120 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



the hand of the Child when seated on His mother's 

 knee. And there was still another reason. He 

 had Himself said: ' I come not to bring peace 

 upon earth, but the sword,' therefore the earlier 

 and more literal artists refused Him the symbol 

 of peace, even as divine peace. There are, 

 however, instances of the Christ-Child with the 

 olive branch, of which the most important is 

 the * Holy Family ' by Mantegna.' The Christ, 

 a beautiful and dignified childish figure of three 

 or four years old, stands on a sort of pedestal 

 with the little Saint John. He holds a branch 

 of ohve in His right hand, upright like a sceptre, 

 and in the other is the crystal orb which sym- 

 bolizes sovereignty. Saint Joseph stands behind 

 and the Virgin lays a rosebud at her Son's feet. 



The Bringer of Divine Peace was an aspect 

 of the incarnate Son of God on which Mantegna 

 laid emphasis. In the * Holy Family,' now in 

 Dresden, painted about the same period, the 

 little Saint John holds a branch of ohve (from 

 which two tiny side-sprays grow naturally in 

 the form of a cross) as an attribute of the 

 Holy Child. 



1 Collection L. Moud, London. 



