214 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



gether in such a mass of loveliness that the 

 mourners seem blinded even to the gorgeous 

 bow of angels in the sky and to the greater 

 wonder in the opening heavens high above. 



Benozzo Gozzoli ' gives the flower-filled tomb, 

 but neglects the symboHsm of the legend, for 

 to the roses he adds daisies and jasmine. It is 

 simply a collection of the flowers sacred to the 

 Virgin. 



GiuUo Romano,^ in the Madonna di Monte- 

 luce, paints neither roses nor lilies, merely small, 

 indeterminate blossoms, mauve, blue and yellow. 



On one panel,^ of the fifteenth century, which 

 represents ' The Giving of the Girdle to Saint 

 Thomas,' cut roses and lilies lie upon the top of 

 the closed tomb, which seems a misapprehen- 

 sion of the legend, but possibly the artist merely 

 intended to paint the flowers usually used as 

 attributes of the Virgin — the rose of love and 

 the lily of purity — without any reference to the 

 story as told in the Golden Legend. 



But though the lilies of the Virgin's tomb 

 represent angels and virgin saints, in those 

 pictures of her Coronation or Assumption, where 



' Vatican. * Vatican. ' Cathedral, Bagno di Romagna. 



