THE FLOWERS OF THE VIRGIN 207 



are more strongly marked than is usual with 

 the Master, holds in her right hand a vase in 

 which are three roses and a stem of lilies. Her 

 left arm is round the Child, whose little hand 

 grasps a single lily cup. The composition is 

 not pleasing, for the Mother is embarrassed 

 and encumbered by the great vase; also the 

 symbolism is not very clear, but apparently 

 the roses and the lily in the vase are the attri- 

 butes of Mary, while the flower in His hand refers 

 to the Holy Child. 



There are very few flowers which are 

 placed within the hand of the Madonna. 

 In Italy she sometimes holds the lilium 

 candidum of the virgin saints in her char- 

 acter of Queen of Virgins. In Germany and 

 the Tyrol the large white lily is replaced 

 by the native lily-of- the- valley; and in the 

 ' Madonna with the Siskin ' ' of Albert Diirer 

 she accepts some sprays of the sweet- 

 scented white bells from the hand of the 

 tiny Saint John. In many pictures she 

 holds a rose. Apart from symbolism, a 

 flower was a fitting thing to grace a woman's 



' Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin. 



