THE IRIS 63 



holds only white lilies. There is iris growing 

 among the roses in Jan van Eyck's ' Virgin of 

 the Fountain/ ' but in his Annunciations there 

 is only the white lily. Memhng, however, 

 places an iris half hidden below the hlies in one 

 Annunciation/ while in a ' Madonna with the 

 Child ' 3 there is also a single iris, though in this 

 case the iris rises above the lilies. 



The Master of Flemalle in his fine ' Saint 

 Barbara ' ^ places an iris in a vase beside the saint, 

 where the white hly of a virgin martyr might 

 have been expected. 



The symboHsm of the iris and the Hly at first 

 sight appears to be identical, and the substitu- 

 tion of the iris for the lilium seems to be the result 

 of some confusion between ' lys ' and ' fleur-de- 

 lys,' accentuated by the likeness between the iris 

 and the lihes of the French royal standard with 

 which the people of the Netherlands were familiar, 

 since they were emblazoned on the shield of the 

 Dukes of Burgundy. 



In the mosaics of Ravenna, where the lily is 

 used to indicate the delights of Heaven, it is 



' Royal Museum, Antwerp. ' Coll. Radziwill, Berlin. 

 ' Royal Gallery, Berlin. ^.Prado, Madrid. 



