THE LILY OF THE ANNUNCIATION 163 



settled down over Italy, some drifting as far 

 north as HoUand. We find them kneeling, 

 standing, just alighting, often with the wind of 

 swift movement still in their garments and almost 

 always on the left hand of the picture, with the 

 Virgin in the place of honour on the right. The 

 Annunciation, the announcing of the near ap- 

 proach of ' the dayspring from on high,' which 

 was to bring light and joy and freedom to a world 

 groping in the twilight of an imperfect revelation, 

 was an incident which particularly appealed to 

 minds rejoicing in the intellectual hberation 

 of the Renaissance. It appealed, too, to the 

 joyous nature of the Florentines, who hated the 

 sad and tragic aspects of life, loving fresh and 

 spring-like things and rather elaborate sim- 

 plicity. Pictures of the Annunciation multi- 

 plied, particularly in Florence, which was just 

 then evolving the school which was to influence 

 so powerfully the Western world's pictorial con- 

 ceptions of the divine mysteries. And in the 

 great majority of Annunciations we find lilies, 

 for in this incident of the Virgin's life above all 

 others it was necessary to emphasize the purity 

 which made the wonder of the angel's salutation. 



