270 FLORAL SYMBOLISM 



emblem of the righteous man whose fruits are 

 good works. 



As the symbol of perfect righteousness, in 

 Italy it is chiefly used in * Adorations,' where 

 the Infant Christ is laid upon the ground 

 among the grass. BotticeUi seems to have 

 been the first to have placed it among 

 the violets and daisies, but he had many 

 followers, and a very charming picture, with 

 the little scarlet berries in the foreground, 

 is the * Adoration ' by Perugino, now in 

 Munich. Botticelli may, however, have bor- 

 rowed the symbol from Giovanni di Paolo,' 

 who painted a small minutely-finished picture 

 of the Virgin, seated on a cushion, with 

 the Holy Child in her arms. Behind 

 are fruit trees and strawberries, violets 

 and carnations are at her feet, and 

 since it was usual in Siena, in pictures 

 where the Infant Saviour appears, to refer 

 all symbols to Him, they are His attributes. 

 In German art of the fifteenth century, 

 on the other hand, the symbolical plants, 

 including the strawberry, which appears in 



1 Belle Arti, Siena. 



