EMBLEMS AND SYMBOLS ii 



The Deity was placed within the mandorla, 

 symbol of perfect blessedness. The prophets 

 were awarded broken wheels to denote their 

 imperfect revelation, and the apostles books, 

 to signify their fuller knowledge. Haloes were 

 carefully differentiated. Virgin saints carried 

 palms or laurel crowns, and martyrs had the 

 instruments of their martyrdom placed beside 

 them. Some figures carried scrolls on which 

 were inscribed texts which gave the clue to their 

 identity, others simply had their names written 

 above their heads, but both these latter devices 

 were useless to the ignorant. 



At the Renaissance, when art had a fuller 

 life and wider aims, it was not sufficient to thus 

 merely label the persons represented. The 

 traditions of Byzantine art once broken, the 

 painter was free to set upon the panel all the 

 beauty that his mind could conceive and that 

 his hand could execute. He had no longer to 

 paint a Christ or a Madonna correct to a formula, 

 but none the less he was bound to depict figures 

 which should be instantly recognizable as God 

 incarnate and the meek Mother of Christ. So 

 from his freedom sprang the problem which has 



