66 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



tinguish this Saint Barbara from a figure of the 

 Virgin. 



The idea of royalty in connection with the 

 iris received support from the constant recur- 

 rence of the ' fleur-de-lys,' accepted as an iris 

 (though some contend that the form, as a symbol 

 of royalty, came originally from Egypt and was 

 founded on the lotus), on royal crowns and 

 sceptres. Memling and his school used such 

 crowns as the symbol of divine majesty, placing 

 them upon the heads of God the Father,' of 

 God the Son,^ and also on the head of the 

 Virgin Mary.^ 



Dante also appears to use the ' fleur-de-lys * 

 or * fiordaliso ' as a symbol of honour : 



' . . . Beneath the sky 

 So beautiful, came four-and-twenty elders (signori) 

 By two and two, with fiower-de-luces crown'd.' 4 



Some commentators, taking the four-and- 

 twenty personages as the four-and-twenty ca- 

 nonical books of the Old Testament, consider 



^ • Coronation of the Virgin,' shrine of Saint Ursula, Bruges. 

 * ' Christ surrounded by Angels,' Royal Museum, Antwerp. 

 3 ' Madonna with the Child,' Marienpfarrkirche, Danzig. 

 ■• Purga, xxix. 8i. 



