FRUIT OF TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 245 



His own. In the fine example at Chatsworth, 

 the Infant Christ, with one hand pointing to 

 the book of prophecy, takes with the other the 

 apple held by an attendant angel. But one 

 painting by Memling ' is especially interesting, 

 since it links together the two symbols, the fruit 

 of heavenly bliss and the fruit of Man's redemp- 

 tion. The Child sits upon His mother's knee, 

 and in one hand clutches cherries, the fruit of 

 Paradise. He seems, however, on the point of 

 relinquishing them to take the apple from the 

 angel's hand, as He relinquished heavenly joy 

 to take upon Himself the sin of the world. 



Meanwhile the painters of Florence, Fra 

 Angelico, Neri di Bicci, Filippo Lippi and 

 BotticelU, had painted the Child with the pome- 

 granate, and it is not very clear whether they 

 held to the Sienese symbolism or sympathized 

 with the Northern tradition. But it was prob- 

 ably the fruit of Eden, for in all other points 

 the Florentines had broken with the Byzantine 

 conventions, and the Child was for them no 

 longer the Royal Child, richly clothed and 

 dignified in gesture, but He was a little naked 



» Uffizi. 



