XII 



THE ACANTHUS 



One plant, the acanthus, which was very much 

 used by pre-Renaissance artists, seems to have 

 dropped later from the flora of symbolism. 



Paradise was embowered, according to Saint 

 Paulino da Nola, in floriferi caeleste nemus 

 paradisi, and curving branches of acanthus in- 

 dicate Heaven in the mosaics of the Baptistery 

 of Ravenna and in the apse of St John Lateran. 

 The Trees of Jesse and the Trees of Life in early 

 art are also founded on the acanthus with vari- 

 ous symbolical details niched in the branches. 

 It surrounds the ' Coronation ' and fills the space 

 above the heads of the saints in the large central 

 mosaic of S. Maria Maggiore' and of the fine 

 mosaic in S. Clemente.^ Venturi writes of the 

 latter : 



* From the plant, whence rises the Cross, 

 spring two green boughs which wreath over all 



' Rome. ' Ibid. 



146 



