io6 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



of Christian symbolism, and it is in Flemish 

 art, which drew its inspiration from the French 

 Renaissance, that we first find, not the little 

 white doves, but the columbine flower. The 

 columbine grows wild in most countries of 

 Europe and is usually dark blue in colour. 

 Each of its five petals is so shaped that it 

 is really very like a little long-necked dove. 

 The little doves are only five in number, 

 but the Flemish painters take each flower, not 

 each petal, as the symbol, and give seven 

 blooms upon each plant. There are six, and 

 the edge of the seventh is just showing, in the 

 mystical crown worn by Hubert van Eyck's 

 ' Queen of Heaven.' ' 



Strictly speaking, however, Mary has no 

 right to these symbols of the gifts of the 

 Spirit, for it was to the expected Messiah 

 that the divine gifts were promised. The 

 columbine is more correctly used by Hugo 

 van der Goes, who in his ' Adoration of 

 the Shepherds ' ^ places a columbine, with seven 

 flowers upon it, in a vase before the Infant 

 Saviour. 



' Ghent Cathedral. ' Uffizi Gallery. 



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