Chapter XX: THE GIRLHOOD OF MARY, VIRGIN (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) 286 (6)

The symbolical strawberry is almost invariably accompanied by the violet, from which we may gather that the truly fruitful soul is always humble.

XXIV

FRUIT IN GARLANDS

Fruit in general signifies ‘the fruits of the Spirit--joy, peace and love.’ And therefore the painters of Northern Italy wove peach and plum, apples and grapes into heavy garlands, which they looped above the place where the Holy Child sat enthroned upon His mother’s knee, or they laid fresh, ripe fruit upon the step where the Virgin’s feet were resting.

The wreath of fruit, when festooned behind or below a saint, was more particularly a symbol of the good works of the righteous; when looped above his head, it is a festal wreath equalling the victor’s crown. Such a wreath is that of mingled fruit and flowers above the head of Mantegna’s ‘Triumphant Saint George.’[348]

But the fruit in many of the devotional pictures of the earlier Venetian masters would seem, like the rose gardens of Florence, to be partly votive. They wished to give of their best, and the cool fruit which came in high-piled boats to the gardenless city among the lagoons seemed infinitely precious to them--more precious, for they were a practical race of traders, than the fragile blossoms of ephemeral flowers. Besides, except for pinks, which, judging from various pictures, grew then as now in pots along the balconies, flowers to serve as models were rare in Venice.

Garlands of fruit, excellently modelled but somewhat wanting in softness and bloom, are especially remarkable in the work of the pupils of Squarcione, who taught in Padua during the last half of the fifteenth century. This famous School of Art is known to have been well furnished with ancient marbles of Greek and Roman origin, and it is to be supposed that there the pupils acquired a love for the classical festooned wreath. Mantegna’s wreaths, and those in the earlier work of Crivelli, are firmly bound and formal. But later, Crivelli laid classicism aside, painting fruit with a freedom and profusion which is quite his own, though there is ever the feeling that it is sculptured and coloured stone, not soft and perfumed fruit-flesh. He, in one picture, paints fruit decoratively, bound with its foliage into a sort of bower for the Virgin, places it symbolically in the hand of the Infant Christ, and also lays it as a votive offering at the Virgin’s feet.[349]

In a picture by Giorgio Schiavone, another pupil of Squarcione, odd little angels offer dishes of fruit to the Infant Christ.[350]

But, except in Northern Italy, fruit in garlands was more used in decoration than in devotional pictures. Magnificent wreaths of carved stone fruit and foliage droop on either side of the great circular windows of Siena Cathedral; there are heavy painted wreaths of it beneath the figures of the Apostles in the chapel of the Vatican decorated by Fra Angelico; and the Della Robbias enclosed some of their most lovely works, with apples, pears, lemons, pine-cones and pomegranates, growing stiffly and beautifully into a symmetrical border. Fruit-forms were, indeed, infinitely better suited to the Della Robbia medium than were the delicate petals of flowers.

The Florentines, too, often placed their Madonnas in elaborate wooden frames of carved and gilded fruit--remembering perhaps the epithet of Saint Bernard, who styled the Virgin Mary ‘the sublime fruit of the earth,’[351] finding in her the fulfilment of the prophecy:

‘In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely.’[352]

But many of these garlands of fruit, or of mixed fruit and flowers, are entirely decorative with no hidden meaning. They were a very usual festal decoration in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and when swung above the head of Memling’s ‘Enthroned Madonna,’[353] they are no more a symbol than is the carpet beneath her feet, for an almost identical wreath, held in place by the same small _putti_, is above the throne in Gerard David’s ‘Judgment of Cambyses,’[354] while one which is very similar hangs above the enthroned ‘Emperor Sigis mondo,’[355] incised upon the pavement of Siena Cathedral. These wreaths distinguish the throne as being more than an ordinary seat, but, beyond vaguely indicating pomp and splendour, they have no special meaning.

THE PARADISE OF GIOVANNI DI PAOLO

In the Gallery of Siena there is a panel by Giovanni di Paola, the contemporary and occasional assistant of the better-known Sano di Pietro. The panel, which was painted in 1453, represents the Last Judgment, and, naturally, it is the portion of it which is given to Paradise, that is interesting because of its flower symbolism.

Heaven is depicted as a hill, for in the 15th century the prophet Esdras was the authority relied on for descriptions of the heavenly land, and Paradise, he says, has ‘seven mighty mountains on which grow roses and lilies.’[356]

At the summit of the hill there are six fruit-bearing trees, for the prophet continues, ‘Saith the Lord, ... I have sanctified and prepared for thee twelve trees laden with diverse fruit.’[357]

There are six trees, not twelve, in this picture, for, by a convention common enough in early art, where the space did not admit of a certain number, that number was halved.

Beneath the trees wander the happy souls, of whom the greater part appear to have taken holy orders when in the flesh. Those just arrived are welcomed joyfully by the angels or by friends who had preceded them.

On the grassy bank there are lilies, the symbol of purity; the carnation, equalling the rose as the flower of divine love, the violet of humility and the strawberry, whose fruit symbolises the good works of the righteous.

These are the values of the flowers as symbols; as emblems they translate this Heaven as a perfected counter-part of the Church upon Earth, ‘for’ says Durandus, commenting on the text, ‘See the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed.’ ‘This field is the Church, which is verdant with flowers, which shineth with virtues, which is fragrant with good works; and wherein be the roses of martyrs, the lilies of virgins, the violets of confessors, and the verdure of beginners in the faith.’ Following the same authority, the trees are emblems of righteous men, rich in good works.[358]

So for three different reasons the flowers in this painted Paradise appealed to the devout. They help to give a realistic picture of Heaven, presenting in form and colour the description of the prophet; they express mystically the Christian graces; they represent, to the instructed, the bands of martyrs, the choirs of virgins, and the countless happy souls for which the painter had no space.

The little childish beings, with wounds upon their necks or sides, are the Holy Innocents. Two climb up the lilies which are their attributes as virgin martyrs. Though unbaptised, the Innocents, since they died for Christ, were permitted to enter Heaven.

In the foreground, among the violets, are hares, the hare being an ancient emblem of a Christian, founded upon the words of Tertullian:

‘Upon us, as were we hares, is the hunt let loose.’[359]

Also the early naturalists averred that the hare slept with his eyes open; whence the prayer of Saint Mectilda:

‘Grant, O Lord, that, like the hare, I may watch for Thee in Spirit, even while my body takes its needful repose.’[360]

_Giovanni di Paolo_ _Photo Brogi_

PARADISE

(Instituto delle Belle Arti, Siena)]

THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

BY

HUBERT VAN EYKE

On the 6th of May, 1432, the great altar-piece painted by Hubert and Jan van Eyke, entitled ‘The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,’ was erected as a finished work in the Church of S. Bavon in Ghent.

Each of its twelve panels is extremely interesting but the detail which is most important in connection with flower symbolism is the crown of the Madonna. Mary as Queen of Heaven, is seated on the right hand of God the Father, her head is slightly bowed as she reads from the book which she holds open.

Her crown is of gold, set with pearls, sapphires and rubies. Above each large square-cut ruby is placed a lily with two dark-blue columbines at its base. Above the sapphires and alternate with the lilies, are roses, each surmounted by three slender stalks of lily of the valley. A cluster of diaphanous gold stars form a sort of aureole.

The symbolism of jewels is complicated and confused, varying with different authorities, but that of flowers is almost always unchanged. In this crown the _lilium candidum_, which takes the place of the golden fleurs-de-lys that ornament the crowns of earthly queens, indicates the purity of body and of soul by which the Virgin had found favour in God’s sight. The roses, three in number, denote the Divine Love of the Holy Trinity, and since these are placed, though singly, in a crown, they hold also some measure of heavenly joy.

The seven blooms of the columbine, symbolize the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which, when attributed to the Virgin, are, Faith, Hope, Charity, Justice, Prudence, Temperance, and Strength.

The lily of the valley, found only in northern symbolism, typifies the meekness and ‘low estate’ of the ‘hand-maid of the Lord.’

The twelve stars suggested by the starry crown of the Apocalypse, are said by some authorities to represent the twelve Apostles, illustrating Mary’s title of ‘Regina Apostolorum.’ The ‘great wonder’ had appeared in Heaven and the lily-like maid was now a queen, ‘the woman clothed with the sun, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.’

_Hubert van Eyke_

THE QUEEN OF HEAVEN

(From copy by Coxie, Alte Pinakothek, Munich)]

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS

BY

HUGO VAN DER GOES.

There has been lately placed in the Uffizi Gallery, the large ‘Adoration of the Shepherds,’ by Hugo van der Goes, which was painted between 1470 and 1475 by order of Tommaso Portinari, agent of the Medici in Bruges, for the Chapel of the Florentine Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova.

It is a tryptich. On the side wings are the donor and his family; in the centre is the ‘Adoration of the Shepherds.’

Upon the ground in the courtyard of a stable, the Holy Child lies in a pool of light emanating from Himself. His mother kneels beside Him, and plain little angels with jewelled head-dresses form a circle round them. To the right is a group of adoring shepherds--to the left Saint Joseph.

In the foreground of the picture, before the Infant Christ, there lies a sheaf of corn. There are also two vases. One is of pottery, with a conventional design of grapes and vine leaves, and is filled with orange lilies and the purple and the white iris. In the other, which is of transparent glass, there is columbine and three red carnations; upon the ground are scattered blue and white violets. Each flower is painted with the most exquisite precision. Here the flower symbols all emphasize the spiritual significance of the scene. The scattered violets symbolize humility, for the King of Heaven lies on the ground as a little Child. The white ones among them may denote the innocence of His babyhood. The transparent glass so often seen in Annunciations, is the symbol of His immaculate conception, the group of carnations, alike in shape and colour, typifies the divine love of the triune Godhead, which moved the Son to take a human form for our salvation. The seven blossoms of the columbine, the flower of the dove, are symbols of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit with which He was endowed at birth. The lilies in the vase are His own emblem as the King of Heaven, since He said: ‘I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.’ They are not the _lilium candidum_, the flower of the Madonna’s purity, but the royal lilies of the field, orange, purple and white. Even Solomon, in gold, purple and fine linen, ‘was not arrayed like one of these.’

Lastly there is the vine, pictured upon the vase, and the sheaf of corn, the eucharistic substances which in the sacrifice of the Mass, repeat the sacrifice for which He was born into the world as a little child.

It has been said, and reproachfully, of the Northern artists that they preferred gold, jewels and rich embroideries to the more ephemeral loveliness of flowers. This dictum may be just when applied to the early German schools; of Flemish Art it is not true. In this picture, for instance, the little angels are richly dressed but not rose-crowned like their Florentine cousins. They wear instead circlets of precious stones and pearls, from which spring aigrettes with pendant jewels. They carry no flowers and no flowers are used to fill vacant spaces in the picture. Flowers are reserved instead for the highest use of all and are placed in the forefront of the scene to represent the virtues of the Holy One.

Hugo van der Goes has painted almost these same flowers of the Adoration in his Fall.[361] Adam and Eve stand beneath the tree from which Eve reaches an apple. The lizard-bodied tempter stands behind. In the centre of the foreground, in front of the figures, is the iris, the columbine, the violet, a rose-bush not yet in bloom and the strawberry. There is also a pansy (which is rare as a symbol, except in England where it was named Herb Trinity,) and its meaning in this picture does not seem clear.

These flowers, used elsewhere as the emblems and attributes of Jesus Christ, here are introduced to recall the coming of the ‘second Adam,’ exactly reversing the symbolism which places an apple in the hand of the Infant Christ.

_Hugo van der Goes_ _Photo Brogi_

THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS

(Uffizi Gallery, Florence)]

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

BY

MURILLO

In the 17th century the Spanish Inquisition appointed certain _familiares_ whose warrant ran:

‘We give him commission and charge him hence forward that he take
particular care to inspect and visit all paintings of sacred
subjects which may stand in shops or in public places; if he finds
anything to object to in them he is to take the picture before the
Lords of the Inquisition.’

Murillo, painting for the Church in Seville, the most orthodox city of Spain, may therefore be reckoned correct in his method of presenting sacred subjects. At the period in which he painted, the particular form of Madonna picture most often ordered by the Spanish Church, was that known as the ‘Immaculate Conception.’

The sinless birth of the Virgin was a dogma that had been adopted enthusiastically by the Spanish, so much so that Philip III and Philip IV sent special embassies to Rome to obtain more explicit papal recognition of the doctrine. It did not, however, become an article of faith till 1854 and, as a subject, it is chiefly confined to the Spanish School.

The scheme of the picture is invariably taken from the Revelation of St. John.

‘And there appeared a great wonder in Heaven; a woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars.’

It was usual to add a group of _putti_ about the Virgin’s feet (her feet, according to an injunction of the Inquisition as to ‘decency’ being carefully covered) and these _putti_ almost always carried flowers, the rose, lily, olive and palm. Sometimes the iris was added, and occasionally the iris alone was used.[362] Very often a _putto_ carries a looking-glass,[363] a symbol of the Immaculate Conception which appears to be of Spanish origin, but which is perhaps a variation or development of the transparent vase, which in the 15th century art was a symbol of the virgin birth of Christ. The idea is that the glass, whatever be the image cast upon it, remains in itself unstained.

In Murillo’s masterpiece, ‘_La Purissima_’ of the Prado, the flowers indicate Mary’s virtues. The rose, symbol of love and mercy, show her as the _Mater misericordiæ_; the lily shows her purity--she is ‘_La Purissima_:’ the palm of triumph is hers as the Queen of Heaven and the olive tells of the healing she brings to mankind; she is the _Consolatrix Afflictorum_.

And the Church having identified the Virgin with the ‘Wisdom’ of the 24th Chapter of Ecclesiasticus, these symbols are also her direct emblems, for, says Wisdom:

‘I was exalted like a palm-tree in Engaddi, and as a rose-plant in Jericho, as a fair olive-tree in a pleasant field.’

And the lily is always her emblem as ‘The lily of the valleys.’

It is noticeable that this figure of the Virgin, realized from the word picture of the Revelation of Saint John, was one that appealed strongly to the Spanish. She is ‘clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet.’ The moon is represented as the crescent moon which was the sacred device of the followers of Mahomet, and which had surmounted innumerable mosques throughout the Iberian peninsula for more than five hundred years. Ferdinand, husband of Isabella, put an end to the Moorish dominion in 1492, but the impress of the Moor is to this day strong on the land, and in the 17th century it seemed a fitting thing that the Virgin’s foot should be upon the hated crescent which symbolized Moorish rule and the faith of Islam. It was therefore, as a symbol of the Mohamedan faith [rather than as a symbol of chastity through its connection with the Goddess Diana, as is sometimes suggested], that representations of the Virgin with her feet upon a crescent, became so popular in Spain.

_Murillo_ _Photo Anderson_

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

(Prado, Madrid)]

THE GIRLHOOD OF MARY VIRGIN

BY

DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI

In the year 1848, three young English painters, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt, founded the Preraphaelite Brotherhood, the aim of which was to bring back to modern art the sincerity of those painters who had preceded Raphael.

The original characteristics of the brotherhood’s work were a simplicity in the types chosen and a workmanship almost Flemish in its careful and minute finish. But later, and more particularly in the work of Rossetti, ‘Preraphaelism’ became associated with a certain mysticism of subject whose deeper meaning was accentuated and elucidated by the use of symbols and more especially flower symbols.

Rossetti’s earliest exhibited work was ‘The Girlhood of Mary Virgin,’ painted in 1849.

The Virgin with Saint Anne by her side, sits at an embroidery frame and works upon a strip of red material the lily with two flowers and a bud which grows in a vase before her. A little rosy winged angel waters the lily, and, lying crossed upon the ground, is a seven-leaved palm and a seven-thorned briar, united by a little scroll bearing the words ‘_Tot dolores, tot gaudia_.’

The second part of the double sonnet written by the artist for this picture explains to some extent the symbolism.

II

These are the symbols. On that cloth of red
I’ the centre is the Tripoint: perfect each
Except the second of its points, to teach
That Christ is not yet born. The books--whose head
Is golden charity, as Paul hath said--
Those virtues are wherein the soul is rich:
Therefore on them the lily standeth, which
Is innocence, being interpreted.

The seven-thorn’d briar and the palm seven-leaved,
Are her great sorrow and her great reward.
Until the end be full, the Holy One
Abides without. She soon shall have achieved
Her perfect purity: yea, God the Lord
Shall soon vouchsafe His Son to be her Son.

Behind the Virgin is the trellis of the ‘Enclosed Garden.’ Beyond--for still the ‘Holy One abides without’--is the vine, emblem of the ‘True Vine,’ the figure of Saint Joseph, who tends it, forecasting that he would be the guardian of Christ’s infancy. Upon the trellis, up which wreathes the white convolvulus, used in the 15th century as the symbol of humility, sits the Holy Dove.

Finally, upon the balustrade is a rose in a transparent vase, the rose of divine love conjoined with the symbol of transcendant purity.

_Dante Gabriel Rossetti_ _Photo Mansell_

THE GIRLHOOD OF MARY VIRGIN]

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Antony, Joseph, _Symbolik der Katholischen Kirchen Gebrauche_

Archæologia

Augustine, St, _Confessions_

Beaumont, de, _Recherches sur l’origine du Blazon et en particulier
la Fleur-de-Lis_

Bernard of Clairvaux, St, _Sermons_

_Biblia Pauperum_, Heidelberg Copy, 1440; German Ed., 1471,
Wolfenbüttel Copy

_Byzantine Guide to Painting_ (Didron’s Translation)

Dante, _Divina Commedia_

Didron, _Christian Iconography_

Durandus, _Rational of the Divine Offices_

Edmonson, _Complete Book of Heraldry_, 1780

Ford, _Spanish Handbook_ (First Edition)

Hirn, Yrjö, _The Sacred Shrine_

Huysman, J. K., _La Cathédrale_

Jacobus de Voragine, _Legenda Aurea_

Jameson, Mrs, _Sacred and Legendary Art_

Jenner, Mrs H., _Christian Symbolism_

Liebman, P. S., _Kleine Handwörterbuch der Christlichen Symbolik_

Martin, Arthur, _Mélanges d’Archéologie_

Mectilda, St, _Spiritual Grace_

Menzel, Wolfgang, _Christliche Symbolik_

Neale, J. M., _Hymni Ecclesiae_

Northcote and Brownlow, _Roma Sotterana_

Schmid, A., _Christliche Symbole aus alter und neuer Zeit_

Smith, _Classical Dictionary_

Strabo, Walafrid, _Hortulus_

_Syrian Codice of 586_, Laurentian Library

Taylor, Jeremy, _The History of the Life and Death of the Holy Jesus_

Tertullian

Twining, Louisa, _Symbols and Emblems_

Vasari, _Lives of the Painters_

Venturi, _Storia dell’ Arte Italiana_

INDEX OF ARTISTS

Angelico da Fiesole, 81, 90, 131, 144, 167, 245, 261

Antinoles, José, 216

Barabino, Niccolo, 122

Bellini, Giov., 232, 241

Bonfigli, 91, 158

Botticelli, 45, 71, 75, 85, 100, 119, 122, 123, 124, 128, 166, 213,
238, 246, 262, 263

Botticini, 77, 188, 213

Breu, Jörg, 107

Bruder Wilhelm, 210

Bürgkmair, Hans, 127, 255, 264

Cano, Alonzo, 128

Carotto, Giov. Franc., 188

Carpaccio, Vittore, 138

Cavallini, 59, 164

Cimabue, 138

Crivelli, 192, 257, 273

Donatello, 158

Duccio di Buoninsegna, 59, 144

Dürer, Albert, 39, 51, 68, 173

Filarete, Ant., 44

Francesca, Piero della, 140

Franciabigio, Francesco, 202

Fries, Hans, 156

Gaddi, Taddeo, 226

Ghirlandaio, Dom., 67, 167, 200

Giambono, 208

Giotto, 59, 157, 166, 200, 224, 226

Giovanni di Paolo, 177, 268, 270

Gozzoli, Benozzo, 98, 214

Grünwald, Mat., 255

Guariento, 180

Holbein, Hans, 256

Holman Hunt, 40, 129

Joos van Cleeve, 250

Leighton, Frederick, 48

Leonardo da Vinci, 12, 39, 166

Liberale da Verona, 222

Lippi, Fra Filippo, 45, 167, 186, 245, 261

Lochnar, Stephen, 210

Lorenzetti, Ambrogio, 114, 142, 177, 181, 242

Lorenzo da San Severino, 258

Lucas van Leyden, 51, 227, 254

Luini, 93, 109, 231

Mabuse, 94, 119, 204, 239

Mantegna, 120, 127, 272

Maratta, Carlo, 39

Master of Flémalle, 63, 69, 165

Master of the Bartholomew Altar, 110, 195

Master of the Carnations, 86

Master of the Sterzing Altar, 144, 189

Memling, 50, 63, 65, 66, 100, 119, 168, 243, 245

Michael-Angelo Buonarroti, 12, 191

Moretto, 119, 158

Murillo, 75, 115, 233

Neri di Bicci, 45, 77, 245, 261

Niccolo d’Apulia, 164

Orcagna, 59, 179

Palmezzano da Forli, 68

Perréal, J., 158, 174

Perugino, 45, 276

Pesello, 67, 169, 192

Pinturicchio, 172

Pisano, 209

Podesti, 267

Raphael Santi da Urbino, 12, 93, 213

Robbia, Della, 274

Romano, Giulio, 214

Rosselli, Cosimo, 108, 158

Rossello di Jacopo Franchi, 188

Rossetti, D. G., 40, 175, 185, 199

Rubens, P. P., 20, 51, 140, 253

Sano di Pietro, 38, 242, 243

Sassetta, 223

Sassoferrato, 130

Schiavone, Giorgio, 274

Schöngaur, 123, 247

Schüchlin, Hans, 110

Seghers, 131

Signorelli Luca, 47, 74, 195, 204, 206, 231

Simone Martini, 59, 91, 117, 178, 179, 231

Sodoma (Bazzi), 109, 123, 213

Spinello Aretino, 142, 167, 181

Squarcione, 203

Stefano da Zevio (da Verona), 100

Taddeo di Bartolo, 167

Tobar, Alfonso da, 82

Trevisani, Francesco, 196

Van der Goes, Hugo, 65, 68, 85, 106, 108, 192, 252

Van der Weyden, Roger, 165

Van Eyck, Hubert, 12, 98, 106

Van Eyck, Jan, 63, 165, 167, 241

Vanni, Andrea, 177

Vasari, G., 248

Veronese, Paul, 228

Watts, F. G., 40

Wolgemut, 156

Zurburan, 76, 77, 12

INDEX OF FLOWERS

Acanthus, Chap. xii.

Almond, 197

Anemone, 60, 93

Apple, 14, 32, 94, 119, 240, Chap. xx.

Balsam, 197, 218

Briars, 33

Buckthorn, 33

Burning Bush, 132, 192

Carnation, Chap. vi., 190, 191

Cedar, 26, 217

Cherries, 243, 245

Clover, _see_ Shamrock

Columbine, 30; Chap. viii., 174, 198

Convolvulus, 29, 48

Cyclamen, 33

Daisy, 31, 45, 110, 167

Dandelion, 34, 195, 199

Fig, 255, 256

Fleur-de-lys, 36, Chap. xiii.

Flower, Community of the, 41

Flower, Our Lady of the, 81

Frankincense, 198

Fruit in Garlands, Chap. xxiv.

Gold flower, 73

Gourd, Chap. xxi.

Grapes, 238, 254

Heath, 29

Hellebore, 33

Hemlock, 130

Hyssop, 33

Iris, 36; Chap. iv., 168, 198

Ivy, 130

Jasmine, 31, 48, 167, 201

Laurel, 116, 177

Lemon, 241

Lettuce, 29

Lily, 14, 24; Chap. iii., 92, 198, 211, 215

Lily of Florence, 81

Lily of the Angel Gabriel, Chap. xv.

Lily of the Annunciation, Chap. xiv.

Lily of the Saints, Chap. xviii.

Lily of the Valley, 198, 207

Lilies of the Virgin’s Tomb, 213

Mandrake, 33

Musk flower, 197

Myrrh, 24, 25, 218

Myrtle, 197, 201

Nettle, 25, 33

Oleander, 227

Olive, 24, 36, Chap. ix.

Orange, 242

Palm, 24, 26, Chap. xi.

Palm-tree, 137, 138, 218

Pansy, 32

Passion Flower, 195

Pear, 119, 252

Pomegranate, 98, 119, 218, 245, Chap. xxii.

Poppy, 33

Quince, 119, 239, 241

Rose gardens, 97, 100

Rose garlands, Chap. vii.

Rose, golden, 101, 102, 103

Rose hedge, 99

Rose of Charity, 29, 208

Rose of Divine Love, 24, 28; Chap. v., 172, 190, 198

Rose of Martyrdom, 72

Rose of Venus, 101, 102, 103

Saffron, 26

Shamrock, 30, 191

Snowdrop, 269

Spices, 24

Strawberry, 45, 110; Chap. xxiii., 198

Sunflower, 199

Sycamore, 26

Thistle, 195

Thorns, 33, 77; Chap. x., 216

Thorns, Crown of, 126, 127, 128, 131

Turpentine Tree, 24

Vine, 23; Chap. xix.

Violet, 28, 45, 48, 110, 197, 198, 210

Water-lily, 29

Willow, 195

FOOTNOTES

[1] Dr March states very clearly the difference between a symbol and an emblem. ‘A symbol stands for an abstract idea, an emblem denotes a concrete thing, an attribute appears in apposition with the person it qualifies; for example, in a presentment of the Blessed Virgin, the lily that she holds in her hand or that flowers by her side is her attribute. When the lily appears alone it represents the Queen of Heaven and is her emblem, but if it indicates purity it is a symbol.’

[2] Ghent Cathedral.

[3] The Prado, Madrid.

[4] Antwerp Cathedral.

[5] Author of _Liber aggregationis, seu Liber mirabilium de virtutibus herbarum, lapidum et animalium_.

[6] Authoress of _The Garden of Health_.

[7] ‘This is that herb which such physicians as are licensed to blaspheme by authority without danger of having their tongues burned through with a hot iron called an herb of the Trinity; it is also called, by those who are more moderate, three faces in a hood ... and in Sussex we call them pancies.’ Culpeper’s _Herbal_.

[8] C. Marriott.

[9] Corsini Gallery, Florence.

[10] Naples Museum.

[11] Stroganoff Collection, Rome.

[12] Accademia, Florence.

[13] Ex Convent of S. Apollonia, Florence.

[14] Bargello, Florence.

[15] Adoration, Pitti Palace, private apartments.

[16] Cathedral, Perugia.

[17] J. K. Huysmans, _La Cathédrale_.

[18] Attributed to Giotto. Collection of A. E. Street, Esq.

[19] Isaiah XXXV. 1.

[20] Wolfenbüttel Copy, Bibliothèque Nationale.

[21] Marienpfarrkirchen, Danzig.

[22] Town Museum, Leyden.

[23] ‘The Smaller Passion,’ British Museum.

[24] J. K. Huysmans, _La Cathédrale_.

[25] _Complete Book of Heraldry_, 1780. vol. i.

[26] ‘The effigies of the Kings of Navarre, successors to Garcias, are still to be seen with this order about their necks in the Church of St Mary at Nagera, St Saviour’s de Layra and St Mary la Reale of Pompelona, as also in the church at Ronceneux, and at St John’s de la Pigna.’ (Edmondson.)

[27] Now in Seville Cathedral.

[28] Solomon’s Song v. 9.

[29]

‘Ut ipsa corporis species simulacrum fuerit mentis.’
_De Verginit_, lib. ii. chap. 2.

[30] S. Maria Trastevere, Rome.

[31] National Gallery, London.

[32] Lower Church, Assisi.

[33] Uffizi, Florence.

[34] Or San Michele, Florence.

[35] Frankfort-on-the-Maine.

[36] Berlin.

[37] Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

[38] Royal Museum, Antwerp.

[39] Coll. Radziwill, Berlin.

[40] Royal Gallery, Berlin.

[41] Prado, Madrid.

[42] Uffizi, Florence.

[43] ‘Coronation of the Virgin,’ shrine of Saint Ursula, Bruges.

[44] ‘Christ surrounded by Angels,’ Royal Museum, Antwerp.

[45] ‘Madonna with the Child,’ Marienpfarrkirche, Danzig.

[46] _Purga_, xxix. 81.

[47] _See_ Chapter XIV., ‘The Lily of the Annunciation.’

[48] Accademia, Florence.

[49] The Brera, Milan.

[50] The Rudolphinum, Prague.

[51] Chaucer, _The Knight’s Tale_.

[52] Schifanoja Palace, Ferrara.

[53] Botticelli, Uffizi.

[54] Walter Pater, ‘Sandro Botticelli.’

[55] _Legenda Aurea._

[56] William Dunbar.

[57] _The Book of Spiritual Grace._

[58] Orvieto Cathedral.

[59] Accademia, Florence.

[60] The _Portincula_ or _Porzuincola_ (the little portion) built by Saint Benedict and rebuilt by Saint Francis was the first church of the Franciscan order. It is now enclosed by the Church of S. Maria degli Angeli, and, close by, the rose-bushes of the legend, still thornless, are shown.

[61] Prado, Madrid.

[62] Cadiz.

[63] Wilton House.

[64] Museo Provincial, Seville.

[65] Florence. To be placed in the Riccardi Palace.

[66] Palazzo Pitti.

[67] Robert de la Condamine, _The Upper Garden_.

[68] In the Bibliothèque de l’Arsénal, Paris.

[69] British Museum.

[70] Dante.

[71] In France at the same period it was very usual to place a ‘fleur-de-lys’ in the Madonna’s hand. For instance, the beautiful statuette in silver gilt of the early fourteenth century, now in the Louvre, carries a ‘fleur-de-lys’ of crystal in the right hand.

[72] The Prado, Madrid.

[73] Private apartments, Pitti Palace, Florence.

[74] Uffizi, Florence.

[75] An exception is the Assumption by Fungai in the Belle Arti of Siena, where white roses and red carnations fill the tomb. The prejudice appears to have been against the red rose.

[76] Kunst Museum, Bern.

[77] ‘The Key’ of Saint Melitus.

[78] ‘Hortulus,’ Walafrid Strabo.

[79] ‘Spiritual Grace,’ Saint Mectilda.

[80] The Wisdom of Solomon ii. 8.

[81] _Passio S.S. Jacobi, Mariani et aliorum martyrum in Numidia._

[82] _Sensations d’Italie._

[83] S. Maria Novella, Florence.

[84] The Brera, Milan.

[85] _Legenda Aurea._

[86] Prado, Madrid.

[87] Ghent Cathedral.

[88] _Paradiso_, xxx. 114.

[89] _Ibid._ 121.

[90] 2 Esdras ii. 18–19.

[91] Written by the monk Dionysius of Mount Athos in the twelfth century. Translated by M. Didron.

[92] Adoration of the Lamb, Ghent Cathedral.

[93] Florence.

[94] Ruskin, _Modern Painters_.

[95] Town Museum, Frankfort-on-the-Maine.

[96] The Song of Solomon ii. 2.

[97] Museum, Verona.

[98] _Rat. Off._, iii. 18.

[99] _Trésor_ of Aix la Chapelle.

[100] Arthur Martin, _Mélanges d’Archéologie_.

[101] Opera del Duomo.

[102] Isaiah xi. 1–2.

[103] _Christian Iconography_, Didron.

[104] Ghent Cathedral.

[105] Uffizi Gallery.

[106] _Christian Iconography_, Didron.

[107] Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin.

[108] Uffizi Gallery.

[109] St Petersburg.

[110] Tiefenbronn Church.

[111] Wallraf-Richartz Museum, Cologne.

[112] Sophocles, _Œdipus Coloneus_.

[113] Smith’s _Classical Dictionary_.

[114] _De Baptismo_, c. viii.

[115] See title-page.

[116] Northcote and Brownlow, _Roma Sotterana_.

[117] Palazzo Pubblico, Siena.

[118] Taddeo di Bartolo, Sano di Pietro, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Belle Arti, Siena.

[119] No. 160, Belle Arti, Siena.

[120] Stefano di Giovanni, Belle Arti, Siena.

[121] _Trésor_ of Aix la Chapelle.

[122] _Trésor_ of the King of Bavaria.

[123] Milton.

[124] ‘The Nativity,’ National Gallery.

[125] ‘The Nativity,’ Belle Arti, Siena.

[126] Collection L. Mond, London.

[127] Durandus, _Rat. Off._, vi. 47–9.

[128] Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 14.

[129] _Lives of the Painters._

[130] Corsini Gallery, Florence.

[131] Monza.

[132] Palazzo Pubblico, Siena.

[133] Uffizi, Florence.

[134] Munich.

[135] Private apartments, Pitti Palace.

[136] Nierenberg.

[137] Mantegna, Belle Arti, Verona.

[138] Botticelli, Poldi Pezzoli Collection, Milan.

[139] Botticelli, Borghese Gallery, Rome.

[140] Museo Provincial, Seville.

[141] Collection of the Duchess of Fife.

[142] Royal Gallery, Augsburg.

[143] Sassoferrato, Church of S. Sabina, Rome.

[144] Accademia, Florence.

[145] Uffizi, Florence.

[146] _Der Goldene Schmiede._

[147] Munich.

[148] 1 Maccabees xiii. 51.

[149] Revelation vii.

[150] 2 Esdras ii. 45.

[151] Chaucer, _The Second Nonnes Tale_.

[152] A. Venturi, _Storia dell’ Arte Italiana_.

[153] _Ibid._

[154] _Rat. Off._

[155] S. Cecilia, Uffizi.

[156] Accademia, Venice.

[157] Dante.

[158] Rubens, Uffizi.

[159] Piero della Francesca, Uffizi.

[160] At Heidelberg.

[161] SS. Annunziata.

[162] Belle Arti, Siena.

[163] Lord Lindsay.

[164] Opera del Duomo, Siena.

[165] Sterzing, Rathaus.

[166] Opera del Duomo, Siena.

[167] Uffizi, Florence.

[168] W. Menzel, _Christliche Symbolik_.

[169] _Die Sinnbilder und Beiworte Mariens in der deutschen Literatur und lateinischen Hymnenpoesie des Mittelalters._

[170] Rome.

[171] _Ibid._

[172] _Recherches sur l’origine du Blazon et en particulier la Fleur-de-Lis._

[173] Ragalium Franciæ, Libro duo, 1545.

[174] In possession of Sir J. Tobin.

[175] S. Chiara, Naples.

[176] Westminster Abbey.

[177] Psalterium cum Figuris, Bib. National.

[178] Roman des Trois Pélerinages, Bib. S. Geneviève.

[179] St Martin in Vignes, Troyes.

[180] Germanisches Museum, Nuremburg.

[181] Scenes from the Passion, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

[182] Edmund G. Gardner, Florence.

[183] Louvre.

[184] Uffizi, Florence.

[185] First part of _King Henry VI_, Act I. sc. ii.

[186] Trial of Jeanne d’Arc, 1431.

[187] Florence.

[188] Rome.

[189] At Gaeta.

[190] British Museum.

[191] South Kensington Museum.

[192] Imperial Gallery, St Petersburg.

[193] Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

[194] Collection Mérode, Brussels.

[195] _Spanish Handbook_, first edition.

[196] Lower Church, Assisi.

[197] Uffizi, Florence.

[198] Pantheon, Rome.

[199] Uffizi, Florence.

[200] Belle Arti, Siena.

[201] SS. Annunziata, Arezzo.

[202] Museo di S. Marco, Florence.

[203] Uffizi, Florence.

[204] Vatican, Rome.

[205] Cathedral, S. Giminiano.

[206] National Gallery.

[207] Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence.

[208] _Lives of the Painters_, Titian.

[209] Diptych of Jeanne de Bourbon, Musée Condé, Chantilly.

[210] Collection of Prince U. Radziwill, Berlin.

[211] Royal Gallery, Berlin.

[212] British Museum.

[213] British Museum.

[214] W. Menzel, _Christliche Symbolik_.

[215] _Dies in lætitiæ_, Neale’s translation.

[216] The large transparent vase which stands beside the Madonna with the Child, by Jean Perréal, in the Louvre, contains iris, the white lily, lily of the valley and columbine.

[217] Duccio di Buoninsegna, National Gallery.

[218] Giovanni di Paolo, Vatican.

[219] Andrea Vanni, Collection Saracini, Siena.

[220] Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Belle Arti, Siena.

[221] Uffizi, Florence.

[222] Sacchetti.

[223] Museum of Padua.

[224] Vatican.

[225] Belle Arti, Siena.

[226] The Cathedral, Arezzo.

[227] Sermon on Ezekiel.

[228] Sermon on Amos and Zachariah.

[229] Tate Gallery.

[230] In the collection of Miss Hertz, Rome.

[231] Pinakothek, Munich.

[232] Milton.

[233] Botticini, Accademia; School of Botticelli, Accademia.

[234] Carotto, S. Eufemia, Verona.

[235] Alte Pinakothek.

[236] Rossello di Jacopo Franchi, Accademia, Florence.

[237] Luca Signorelli.

[238] Rathaus, Sterzing.

[239] Uffizi.

[240] Uffizi.

[241] Frankfort-on-Maine.

[242] S. Spirito, Florence.

[243] Yrjö Hirn, _The Sacred Shrine_.

[244] Wallraf Richartz Museum, Cologne.

[245] Uffizi.

[246] _Goldene Schmiede._

[247] Huysman, _La Cathédrale_.

[248] Collection of Lady Jekyll.

[249] Tate Gallery, London.

[250] Lower Church, Assisi.

[251] Accademia, Florence.

[252] Uffizi, Florence.

[253] _Goldene Schmiede._

[254] _Die Sinnbilder und Beiworte Mariens in der deutschen Literatur und lateinischen Hymnenpoesie des Mittelalters._

[255] Uffizi, Florence.

[256] _Spiritual Grace._

[257] Pinacoteca, Arezzo.

[258] _Lives of the Painters_, Signorelli.

[259] Cathedral, Perugia.

[260] Accademia, Florence.

[261] Collection Pierpont Morgan, America.

[262] Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin.

[263] Cologne.

[264] Cologne.

[265] W. Menzel, _Christliche Symbolik_.

[266] Oratory of S. Bernardino, Siena.

[267] Vatican.

[268] National Gallery (now attributed to Botticini).

[269] Vatican.

[270] Vatican.

[271] Cathedral, Bagno di Romagna.

[272] Accademia, Florence.

[273] Robert Browning.

[274] Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

[275] Uffizi, Florence.

[276] Now in the Pinacoteca, Lucca.

[277] Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 17, 18, 20.

[278] _Cant. Cantic._ iv. 13.

[279] In Collection of the Duke of Devonshire.

[280] Cremona.

[281] Museum, Verona.

[282] A Sienese painter of the Franciscan Legend.

[283] Upper Church, Assisi.

[284] Capella dell’ Arena, Padua.

[285] Capella Baroncelli, Santa Croce, Florence.

[286] S. Girolamo Spello.

[287] Cathedral, Como.

[288] Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

[289] Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

[290] _Archæologia_, vol. 45.

[291] Villa Masèr, near Treviso.

[292] S. Domenico, Siena.

[293] The name Catharine, it will be remembered, is from the Greek _Katharos_, which has the same signification as the lily, _i.e._, purity.

[294] Luini, S. Maurizio, Milan.

[295] S. Francesco, Assisi.

[296] Royal Gallery, Berlin.

[297] National Gallery, London.

[298] Seville Cathedral.

[299] Rome.

[300] Ghent Cathedral.

[301] Collection Gardener, Boston.

[302] Berlin.

[303] _Paradise Lost._

[304] Vatican.

[305] Brera, Milan.

[306] Uffizi.

[307] Museum, Brussels.

[308] Belle Arti, Siena.

[309] Belle Arti, Siena.

[310] _Ibid._

[311] Uffizi.

[312] _Goldene Schmiede._

[313] Uffizi.

[314] _Lives of the Painters._

[315] Joos van Cleeve, Royal Gallery, Brussels; Wolf Trant, National Museum, Munich.

[316] Florence.

[317] Imperial Gallery, Vienna.

[318] Museum, Rouen.

[319] Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

[320] Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin.

[321] The ‘Chigi’ Madonna, Collection Gardener, Boston.

[322] W. Menzel, _Christliche Symbolik_.

[323] Museum. Colmar.

[324] German Museum, Nüremburg.

[325] Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe.

[326] Royal Gallery, Dresden.

[327] National Gallery.

[328] Museum, Berlin.

[329] Vatican Gallery.

[330] Capitoline Museum, Rome.

[331] National Gallery.

[332] “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. xii. 40).

[333] Vatican Museum.

[334] Uffizi, Florence.

[335] Uffizi.

[336] Accademia, Florence.

[337] Pitti.

[338] Florence.

[339] German Museum, Nüremburg.

[340] Vatican Gallery.

[341] _Ibid._

[342] Dr Anselm Salzer, O.S.B. _Die Sinnbilder und Beiworte Mariens in der deutschen Literatur und lateinischen Hymnenpoesie des Mittelalters_.

[343] Mrs Henry Jenner, _Christian Symbolism_.

[344] Vatican.

[345] Belle Arti, Siena.

[346] Town Museum, Solothurn.

[347] Belle Arti, Siena.

[348] Accademia, Venice.

[349] Brera, Milan.

[350] National Gallery, London.

[351] Sermon on the Assumption of the Virgin.

[352] Isaiah iv. 2.

[353] Imperial Gallery, Vienna.

[354] Town Museum, Bruges.

[355] Dom di Bartolo d’Asciano.

[356] II. Esdras II., 19.

[357] II. Esdras II., 18.

[358] Rat. Off. of Altars.

[359] Ad. Nat., 2, 3.

[360] Spiritual Grace.

[361] Imperial Gallery, Vienna.

[362] José Antolines, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

[363] Murillo, Prado, Madrid.

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Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they were not changed. In particular, spelling variations in quotations of archaic text and poetry were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left unbalanced.

Illustrations in this eBook have been positioned between paragraphs and outside quotations. In versions of this eBook that support hyperlinks, the page references in the List of Illustrations lead to the corresponding illustrations.

The phrase “to face page” have been removed from the List of Illustrations and the caption area of the illustrations, as the illustrations are positioned within or adjacent to the pages referenced in the List of Illustrations.

The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.

Footnotes, originally at the bottoms of pages, have been collected, renumbered, and placed after the Index.

A painter’s name is spelled “van Eyck” in most of this book, but as “van Eyke” on pages 279-281. Both variants have been retained here.