86 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



also the carnation is sometimes found, and very 

 rarely in the same picture as the rose/ There- 

 fore it would seem conclusive that when the 

 painter of the Church did not care to use the 

 rose because, probably, of its association with 

 Venus and scenes profane, he was free, if he 

 chose, to use the carnation as its substitute. 



Strangely enough, the most famous carna- 

 tions in the history of art, those two which 

 have given the name of * The Master with the 

 Carnations ' to the anonymous Swiss painter 

 of the fifteenth century, seem to have no sym- 

 bolical significance. The picture =" shows Saint 

 John the Baptist preaching to King Herod from 

 the text : ' It is not lawful for thee to have 

 thy brother's wife.' The King is in his chair of 

 state and the ladies of his court are seated upon 

 cushions on the tesselated pavement before 

 the pulpit. Directly below the pulpit lie the 

 two pinks; one is white and one red. Possibly, 

 since roses, according to Saint Melitus,^ Wala- 



' An exception is the Assumption by Fungai in the Belle 

 Arti of Siena, where white roses and red carnations fill the tomb. 

 The prejudice appears to have been against the red rose. 



- Kunst Museum, Bern. 



3 ' The Key ' of Saint Melitus. 



