22 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



angel Gabriel's hand indicates the quality by 

 which Mary found favour in God's sight, and it 

 foreshadows also the sinless birth of the Saviour. 

 It should be clearly understood to which 

 figure in a composition the symbols used refer. 

 When a personage of mortal birth, prophet, 

 apostle, martyr or saint, holds a symbol or 

 attribute, it almost invariably refers to his own 

 history. Archangels usually hold their own 

 attribute, but the symbols or emblems which 

 angels carry, or which are used decoratively, 

 placed against the sky or laid upon the ground, 

 are always to be referred to the principal figure 

 in the scene represented. The sword and lily 

 in a ' Last Judgment ' represent the omni- 

 potence and integrity of the Judge; the rose 

 and lily in an ' Assumption ' the love and the 

 purity of the Madonna; the palm in a martyr- 

 dom the triumph of the martyr. 



