138 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



branch of the catacombs as the symbol of 

 a martyr's triumph over death. Durandus, 

 writing about the year 1286, unites the different 

 renderings of the palm's significance. He says: 

 ' Martyrs are painted with the instruments 

 of their torture and sometimes with palms, 

 which signify victory, according to that saying: 



* " The righteous shall flourish like a palm 

 tree; as a palm tree flourishes, so his memory 

 shall be preserved." ' ' 



After the Renaissance martyrs were very 

 generally depicted with palms, either in place 

 of, or in addition to, the instruments of their 

 martyrdom. They varied in size and shape, 

 from the tiny closed palm no longer than a 

 human hand, used by Cimabue,^ to the magni- 

 ficent pedestal of palm branches on which Car- 

 paccio has set his ' Saint Ursula in Glory.' ^ 

 Saint Christopher, the giant saint, in considera- 

 tion of his size, was always allowed a whole 

 palm tree as his staff, but a whole palm tree, or 

 the tiniest scrap of its foliage, carried exactly 

 the same meaning. 



The palm is also given occasionally to several 



' Rat. Off. ' S. Cecilia, U£&zi. ^ Accademia, Venice. 



