School of Bruges, First Quarter of the 16th century

Flemish artists in the 15th and 16^th centuries created the Fountain of Life motif as a visual representation of the Cult of the Holy Blood.  This intense devotion to the holy, or precious, blood of Christ rose from the violently realistic Middle Ages when crusaders would return to Western Europe from the Holy Land with reliquaries reputedly filled with drops of Christ’s blood.   

The Cult of the Holy Blood found its most fervent following in Bruges.  It was in that city that the confraternity of the Holy Blood was founded at the end of the 14^th century and it was in Bruges where the Basilica of the Holy Blood was so-named as the repository for one such sacred vial brought to Bruges by Dietrich of Alsace in 1149 on his return from the Second Crusade.  To this day every year in May the sacred relic is carried from the Basilica through the streets of the city.

There are many known representations and variations of the Eucharistic symbol of the Fountain of Life.  In the present work, blood gushes from Christ’s wounds and milk, which gave Christ life, gushes from the Virgin’s breast into the basin the fountain, while sinners hold their chalices to receive the blood that will cleanse their souls from sin.