THE LILY OF THE ANNUNCIATION 165 



carvings and paintings. The earliest of the 

 Flemish masters, Jan van Eyck/ Roger van der 

 Weyden ^ and the Master of Flemalle,^ make use 

 of it. It was particularly popular in Florence. 



The Florentines loved the Annunciation as a 

 subject and were charmed by the easy, graceful 

 symbolism of the lilies. They were also, doubt- 

 less, deeply gratified, as citizens and as church- 

 men, to identify the lily, their city's badge, as 

 the flower of the Virgin. 



In Spain, even before there was any native 

 school of painting, the vase of lilies passed from 

 being a detail to be an almost essential factor in 

 every representation of the Annunciation, and 

 early in the fifteenth century we find it standing 

 detached as the special and distinguishing 

 attribute of the Virgin. In the insignia of the 

 Order of the Lily of Aragon, founded in 1410 by 

 Ferdinand, Duke of Pegnafiel, the chain was 

 composed of alternate griffins and pots of three 

 lilies, and Ford mentions that when the Regent 

 Fernando recovered Antequera from the Moors 

 he gave the city for arms the badge of his 



' Imperial Gallery, St Petersburg. 

 - Alte Pinakothek, Muaich. ' Collection Merode, Brussels. 



