178 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



In the famous Annunciation of Simone 

 Martini/ Gabriel, who carries a branch of oHve, 

 is also olive-crowned, and this seems to be the 

 proper symbolism of the subject. The messenger 

 of God, crowned with peace, brings the olive 

 branch of reconciliation between God and man 

 to the Virgin, beside whom stands a vase filled 

 with the lilies which symbohze her purity. The 

 dove hovers above. 



It has not been decided which artist was the 

 first to place the stalk of lihes in the angel 

 Gabriel's hand, and first had come the lovely 

 symbol of the vase of lilies by the Virgin's side. 

 But in the Annunciation, which forms part of 

 Simone Martini's polyptych in the Museum of 

 Antwerp, we find the herald's wand just turning 

 to a lily. Professor A. Venturi, in his magnificent 

 History of Italian Art, describes it. The angel 

 ' holds a lily with a long stem, which is all white. 

 Thus the stick or sceptre of ivory, which we have 

 already seen in Duccio's picture, has become 

 partly stick, partly lily-stem. With Duccio it is 

 still the sceptre with three points, that Gabriel, 

 messenger of God, holds as sign of authority. 



' Uffizi, Florence. 



