46 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



but as Northern artists preferred incidents defi- 

 nitely recounted by the Scriptures to more im- 

 aginative devotional subjects, they were trans- 

 ferred to Nativities or Adorations by the 

 Shepherds. 



In Siena during the fourteenth century, and 

 in the school of Giotto, the lily, usually a single 

 hly-cup, is sometimes placed in the hands of the 

 Infant Christ. Here it is not the symbol of 

 purity, but in accordance with the older symbol- 

 ism it is the flower of Paradise. Siena was ex- 

 tremely conservative, and for its artists the Holy 

 Child was still the royal Child of the Byzantine 

 school, richly clothed. His right hand raised in 

 blessing or holding the orb of sovereignty. Some- 

 times He holds a scroll, announcing His high 

 mission, with the words ' Ego sum lux mundi ' 

 or * Ego sum via Veritas et vita.' More stress is 

 laid upon His divinity than upon His humanity, 

 and there is absolutely nothing to hint at or 

 forecast His passion. He appears simply as the 

 bringer of peace and blessing, and in His hand is 

 still the flower of Paradise, the same lily which 

 grows beside His throne in the mosaics. 



Gradually, however, a fruit replaced the 



