84 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



It would appear, therefore, that the sym- 

 bolism of the carnation is identical with that of 

 the rose, and when, for any reason, the artist 

 did not care to paint the rose, he substituted 

 the carnation. 



Each year thousands of carnation blossoms 

 are brought to the Lateran Church in Rome on 

 the feast-day of Saint John, and the people 

 bring carnations, not roses, because by mid- 

 summer's day the blooming time of Roman 

 roses is almost past. A scarcity of roses 

 would seem one reason at least in the Venetian 

 pictures of the fifteenth century why the carna- 

 tion replaces the rose. Earth, even sufficient 

 to grow a rose bush, was scarce in the sea- 

 washed city, but carnations then, as now, must 

 have grown in pots on every balcony. So the 

 Venetians painted their own familiar flower 

 rather than draw the rose, as Carpaccio did his 

 camels, from descriptions furnished by observant 

 travellers. 



In the Netherlands and Germany artists 

 probably preferred the carnation to the rose. 

 It is more precise in shape, neater in its habit 

 of growth, richer in colour than the rose, and 



