THE ROSE 8i 



In the Sarum Book of Hours, by Philippe 

 Pigouchet/ pubhshed in 1501, the huge rose 

 held by the Virgin definitely illustrates her title 

 of * Rosa Mystica,' but those pictures of the 

 early Florentine school, in which she holds a 

 small red or white rose, show her as the * Madonna 

 del Fiore," for as ' Our Lady of the Flower ' she 

 had been installed patroness of the city of 

 Florence. It would have seemed natural, since 

 the Uly was upon the shield of Florence, to have 

 placed a lily, her own flower, in the Madonna's 

 hand. But the city of Florence had passed 

 through troubled times just before the revival 

 of her art, and the silver lily on her shield had 

 been replaced by one of crimson. 



' Had through dissension been with vermeil dyed.' ^ 



Rather than paint her with the crimson lily, Flor- 

 entine artists gave her the rose, and she holds 

 a white leafless rose in the dainty little picture 

 by Era Angelico which is now in the Vatican.^ 



' British Museum. ' Dante. 



' In France at the same period it was very usual to place 

 a ' fleur-de-lys ' in the Madonna's hand. For instance, the 

 beautiful statuette in silver gilt of the early fourteenth cen- 

 tury, now in the Louvre, carries a ' fleur-de-lys ' of crystal in 

 the right hand. 



