THE FLOWERS OF THE VIRGIN 215 



no tomb is shown, the flower is the symbol of 

 her own purity. Through her perfect purity 

 she has attained the crown, therefore it is with 

 stems of white HHes that the rose-crowned 

 angels hail her Queen. 



Fra Fihppo Lippi ' paints her kneeling to 

 receive the crown from God the Father: 



' Ringed by a bowery, flowery angel-brood 

 Lilies and vestments and white faces, sweet 

 As puff on puff of grated orris-root.' 2 



A child-angel holds a scroll with the words : 



' Is per fecit opus,' 



and the archangel Gabriel with a lily, painted 

 in a small lunette above the throne, recalls 

 the first beginning of the work now perfected; 

 while before the throne, and thick on either side, 

 is a waving grove of large white lilies, each 

 stalk held by an adoring angel. 



The devotional figure of the Virgin known 

 as the * Immaculate Conception ' is usually 

 presented as the woman with ' the moon under 

 her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve 

 stars ; ' four or five attendant child-angels each 



' Accademia, Florence. • Robert Browning, 



