200 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



seated at a curiously-shaped frame embroidering 

 a white lily upon a ground of red material. The 

 flower she is copying grows in a vase beside her 

 and an angel with rose-coloured wings waters 

 it. St Anne stands near, and in the background 

 Joachim trims a trellised vine upon which the 

 Holy Dove is perched. In the ' Ecce Ancilla 

 Domini ' ' of Rossetti, this same strip of em- 

 broidery, now finished, hangs beside the bed. 



The older artists paint no lily in the early 

 scenes of the Virgin's life; it first appears at the 

 Annunciation, where it was used so repeatedly 

 that it became in itself the symbol of the miracu- 

 lous birth of Our Lord. Giotto brings it forward 

 in the ' Visitation.' " Elizabeth, hurrying from 

 the house to meet the Virgin, passes beneath a 

 portico on which blooms a large vase of hlies. 



There are endless pictures representing the 

 Virgin seated with the Holy Child, in which a 

 vase of lilies is placed as a votive offering before 

 her feet, or lilies are held by attendant angels. 

 One of the earhest of these pictures is the 

 ' Enthroned Madonna ' ^ of Giotto. Two angels 



' Tate Gallery, London. » Lower Church, Assisi. 



' Accademia, Florence. 



