142 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



In this same edition of the Bihlia Pauperum 

 the palm is also, strangely enough, placed in 

 the hand of Christ in the Ecce Homo; the * reed 

 in His right hand ' set there in mockery, changed 

 to the victor's palm. 



Occasionally the palm is given to the angel 

 Gabriel when he comes from Heaven to announce 

 the Saviour's approaching birth. ' Ave ' is 

 his salutation to the Virgin, and in Roman 

 fashion, as in salutation to a queen, he kneels 

 with a lifted palm. 



Spinello Aretino paints Gabriel with the 

 palm. In his Annunciation at Arezzo ' the 

 angel is first seen above, flying with the palm 

 from before God's throne. Below he kneels, 

 the palm in his hand, before the Virgin. Am- 

 brogio Lorenzetti^ and others follow the same 

 tradition, but the palm was soon superseded 

 in Siena by the olive and elsewhere by the lily, 

 which was adopted by painters of all nations as 

 the flower of the Annunciation. 



The Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine 

 gives an account of the death and burial of the 

 Virgin. The legend is said to be an invention 



' SS. Annunziata. '^ Belle Arti, Siena. 



