248 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



released souls, Eve holding the apple, which 

 has the marks of her teeth still upon it. 



In the hand of Mary it is again the apple of 

 redemption, but it is the fruit of the Fall when 

 it is between the jaws of the serpent or dragon, 

 which she, at her Assumption, treads under foot. 



In Italian art the apple is less often found 

 in the Madonna pictures, but the ancient analogy 

 was not forgotten. On the predella of Lorenzo 

 di Credi's * Annunciation ' ' there are three 

 exquisite little scenes from the life of Eve, and 

 Vasari introduces the Tree of the Knowledge of 

 Good and Evil into his ' Conception of the 

 Virgin,' painted in 1540. Vasari describes it 

 himself : 



' The Tree of the Original Sin was represented 

 in the centre of the painting, and at the roots 

 thereof were placed nude figures of Adam and 

 Eve bound, as being the first transgressors of 

 God's commands. To the principal branches 

 there were also bound Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, 

 Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David and the rest of 

 the kings, law-givers, etc., according to their 

 seniority, all fastened by both arms, excepting 



' Uffizi. 



