LILY OF THE ANGEL GABRIEL 183 



birth, to carry a lily. But the rule was not 

 invariable. The early Flemish artists, half 

 painters, half craftsmen, loved to depict the 

 delicately-chiselled gold of jewelled sceptres 

 topped by an elaborate fieur-de-lys or the cross- 

 surmounted orb which signified the sovereignty 

 of Christ upon earth. These precious sceptres 

 accorded well with the opulent and prosaic 

 comfort of the surroundings in which they set 

 the sacred drama, and reflect the spirit of the 

 Northern mystics. The clear detailed visions 

 of Saint Matilda, the inspired nun of Saxony, 

 which occurred during the last half of the 

 thirteenth century, and whose imagery has 

 distinctly influenced Northern rehgious art, 

 fairly scintillate with mystical gems. Even the 

 roses and the lilies, symbols, she tells us, of divine 

 love and innocence, which she saw in her glimpses 

 of Heaven, were embroidered in gold and silver 

 thread upon rich stuffs or cloth of gold. 



Itahan art had different traditions. It began 

 with the utter simplicity of Giotto and Fra 

 Angelico, though the Byzantine love of rich 

 trappings still Ungered in Siena. As Florentine 

 art progressed it did indeed become more elabor- 



