THE COLUMBINE 105 



symbolic trunk spreads to the left and right, 

 throwing forth branches bearing the Kings of 

 Judah, the ancestors of Christ; at the top, 

 seated on a throne, or the chalice of a gigantic 

 flower, is the Son of God. Surrounding the 

 Saviour, and forming as it were an oval aureole, 

 seven doves are ranged one above the other, 

 three on the left, three on the right, and one at 

 the top. . . . These doves, which are of snowy 

 whiteness, hke the Holy Ghost, and adorned 

 like him with a cruciform nimbus, are simply 

 living manifestations of the seven gifts of the 

 Spirit. The Holy Ghost is drawn under the 

 form of a dove; each of the seven energies dis- 

 tinguishing Him is also figured under the same 

 type.' ^ 



These little doves surrounding the figure of 

 Christ, as a man or as an infant, occur very 

 frequently in the French miniatures of the 

 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and are 

 found upon the windows in the cathedrals of 

 S. Denis, Chartres, Amiens and Beauvais, and in 

 many other French churches. 



It was an essentially French development 



' Christian Iconography, Didron. 



