THE LILY OF THE ANNUNCIATION 167 



both the early and the high Renaissance, Taddeo 

 di Bartolo/ Spinello Aretino,' Era Angehco,^ 

 Lorenzo di Credi'^ and Raphael/ banish lilies 

 entirely, both from the vase and from the angel's 

 hand. Ghirlandaio places a vase beside the 

 Virgin's reading-desk, but alters its significance 

 by filling it with roses, daisies and jasmine, the 

 flowers of love, innocence and divine hope.^ 



On the other hand, some of the Florentine 

 artists who had a special fondness for the flower, 

 notably Era Eilippo Lippi/ and the Delia Rob- 

 bias,^ use both, so doubling the symbolism; but 

 it was more correct, where there was a vase of 

 lilies, to show the angel with folded hands or with 

 a branch of olive, or, as in the beautiful Annun- 

 ciation of Jan van Eyck at St Petersburg, hold- 

 ing the herald's wand. In Jan van Eyck's 

 Annunciation at Berlin, where Gabriel carries a 

 magnificent bunch of lilies, there is no vase. 



According to Northern tradition the true 

 Annunciation lily should have no stamens, but 

 this was a refinement of symbolism largely 



^ Belle Arti, Siena. * SS. Annunziata, Arezzo. 



^ Museo di S. Marco, Florence. * Uflfizi, Florence. 

 • Vatican, Rome. • Cathedral, S. Giminiano. 



^ National Gallery. * Spedale degli Innocenti, Florence. 



