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In the "Autobiography" of Miss Knight, lady companion to the Princess Charlotte, describing a ceremony at St. Peter's, at Rome, in 1780, she says that the statue of the saint was dressed in gold stuff, with a ring on its finger, rare jewels on its breast, and a tiara on its head.
Lady Herbert, in her "Impressions of Spain," describes the famous Lady of Atocha as a black image, but almost invisible from the gorgeous jewels and dresses with which it is adorned.
The ex-Queen Isabella, some little time before her flight from Spain, gave to "Our Lady of Atocha" a robe worth, it is said, 30,000 pound. The image was invisible for some time, as some one took a fancy to one of the many jewels which adorned this robe; and the priests, seeing that her ladyship could not take care of herself, put her under lock and key.
[The King of Spain has decided on having an immense basilica raised over the remains of Queen Mercedes. A sum of 1,000,000 reals will annually be deducted from the civil list for its construction, until the building is complete. The ex-Queen Isabella of Spain has furthered the project by handing over for the purpose the diamonds and jewels deposited in the Cathedral of Atocha, which belong to her, and represent a sum of 15,000,000 reals, more than 3,000,000 francs. Such is the on dit of the newspapers.]
In the Church of St. Laurence, at Florence, is the mausoleum of the Medici family. The bodies of the princes are in a subterranean chapel. The splendour of this mausoleum consists in its being entirely encrusted with the rarest and most beautiful marbles, wrought and inlaid in the highest perfection. The sarcophagi are formed of Egyptian and Oriental granite, with the green jasper of Corsica, and surmounted by cushions inlaid with precious stones, and interspersed by crowns and jewels. In the large and precious slabs of jasper, verd-antique, lapis-lazuli, Oriental alabaster, and Spanish coral, are introduced the armorial distinctions of the various cities of Tuscany, exquisitely wrought. The funereal urns are inlaid and enriched with mother-of-pearl, jauneantique, porphyry, green jasper, etc.
In the Church of Loretto, in what is termed La Santa Casa, are figures of the Virgin and Child, in costly robes, and covered with a profusion of jewels; on their heads are rich crowns. The infant Jesus displays a sumptuous ring on his finger, while the Virgin is resplendent, from the diadem on her brow to the hem of her robe, and jewels of every description, asserted to be of inestimable value; but a large number were swept away by the French, at the invasion. The treasury of this church was once of dazzling beauty and costliness. Lamps, censers, statues, chalices, vases of gold and silver, jewels, gems, robes, pictures, mosaics, the gifts and ex-voto offerings of nobles and crowned heads, here abounded. Of their splendour there are yet some remains. |
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Precious Stones Vol 11
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