THE FLOWERS OF THE VIRGIN 205 



of symbols, Mary encircles the Child with her 

 right arm and in her left hand holds a handsome 

 stalk of lilies. That the flower refers to the 

 wonder of her own purity in conjunction with 

 her motherhood, and not to the Child's sinless- 

 ness, is proved by the words on the scroll of the 

 Prophet Isaiah, who stands below gazing up 

 at her with rapture: 



' Behold a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son.' 



Vasari says of this work : ^ * In his old age he 

 painted a picture for the brotherhood of San 

 Girolamo in Arezzo, partly at the cost of Messer 

 Niccolo Gamurrini, doctor of laws, and auditor 

 of the Ruota, whose portrait, taken from Hfe, 

 is in the picture; he is kneeling before the 

 Madonna, to whose protection he is recom- 

 mended by Saint Nicholas. In the same work 

 are figures of Saint Donatus and Saint Stephen, 

 with that of Saint Jerome, undraped, beneath; 

 there is Hkewise a figure of David singing to a 

 psaltery with two prophets who are seen, by 

 the written scrolls which they hold in their 



' Lives of the Painters, Signorelli. 



