i86 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



recognition of her perfect purity, the trans- 

 cendent quality by which alone she found favour 

 with God. Through it tremendous honour came 

 upon her, and by the marvellous nature of that 

 honour she was eternally bound to her virginity. 

 * Mary Virgin, ever a Virgin.' In a very charm- 

 ing picture by Filippo Lippi,' Mary, with bent 

 head, and fully understanding the grave signifi- 

 cance of the gift, reverently accepts the lily 

 which the angel Gabriel places in her hand. 



In another Annunciation by Filippo Lippi,=' 

 a second angel, peeping through the entry behind 

 Gabriel, also carries a lily, but it is a fancy which 

 seems to have no particular significance and 

 rather impairs the dignity of the subject. 



So constantly did painters and sculptors 

 of the Annunciation place a lily in the arch- 

 angel Gabriel's hand that it gradually became 

 his special attribute, which he wore, as a knight 

 did his crest, to distinguish him from other 

 angels and archangels. 



In the apocryphal Book of Tobit is the story 

 of Tobias, who was accompanied by the angel 

 Raphael on the famous journey which he took 



' In the collection of Miss Hertz, Rome. ^ Pinakothek, Munich. 



