gave rise to an iconographic tradition of the 15th and 16th centuries, which rendered the theological concept of Grace, expressing Roman Catholic dogma allegorically as a fountain of blood. This transformation was first addressed in Evelyn Underhill in 1910, taking her point of departure an Assembly of Saints and the Fountain of Life of 1596 in Ghent, in which blood from the five Holy Wounds of Christ flows into the upper basin of a "Fountain of Life" and streams out through openings in the lower "Fountain of Mercy". Saints and martyrs, patriarchs and prophets hold golden chalices of blood, which some empty into the fountain. Below the faithful hold out their hearts to receive droplets of blood. See also The Fountain of Life Fountain of Youth Odinsaker Life-giving Spring, for Byzantine Marian iconography (mediatrix, mother of all graces) Church of St. Mary of the Spring (Istanbul), a 6th-century Eastern Orthodox sanctuary in Istanbul Zoodochos Pigi (disambiguation) Spanish gothic pitoresque treatment Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College Notes References Leslie Brubaker (1989). "Fountain of Life". Dictionary of the Middle Ages. vol-5. Underhill, Evelyn (1910). "The Fountain of Life: An Iconographical Study" The Burlington Magazine 17.86 (May 1910), pp. 99–101 and illus. (available on-line through JSTOR). Paul Underwood, "The Fountain of Life in Manuscripts of the Gospels", Dubarton Oaks Papers, 5 (1950). Iconography of illuminated manuscripts Eucharist in the Catholic Church Christian iconography Baptism Medieval legends