THE FLOWERS OF THE VIRGIN 213 



empty, and indeed all three subjects are rare 

 in the North, though the death of the Virgin 

 is frequently represented. 



The majority of Italian painters, however, 

 gladly seized the pretty detail, and the Virgin's 

 tomb is usually flower-filled. But the painters 

 of the high Renaissance did not keep strictly to 

 the symbohsm of the legend. There is a beau- 

 tiful fresco by Sodoma,' in which the Virgin,, 

 dignified and lovely, ascends from a tomb brim- 

 ming over with roses, and from among them 

 springs one mystic lily. 



Raphael,^' too, gives a single lily rising from 

 among the roses, and both he and Sodoma 

 seem to have adopted the later fashion of con- 

 sidering the lily as exclusively the Virgin Mary's 

 flower, and instead of serried lilies, representing 

 bands of angels and virgin saints, they paint 

 one only flower, emblem of the Queen of Virgins 

 rising to Heaven attended by the glowing souls 

 of martyrs. 



BotticeUi,3 on the other hand, has left the 

 roses and painted lilies only, lilies crowded to~ 



' Oratory of S. Bernardino, Siena. ' Vatican. 



* National Gallery (now attributed to Botticini). 



