XXIV 



FRUIT IN GARLANDS 



Fruit in general signifies ' the fruits of the 

 Spirit — joy, peace and love.' And therefore 

 the painters of Northern Italy wove peach and 

 plum, apples and grapes into heavy garlands, 

 which they looped above the place where the 

 Holy Child sat enthroned upon His mother's 

 knee, or they laid fresh, ripe fruit upon the step 

 where the Virgin's feet were resting. 



The wreath of fruit, when festooned behind 

 or below a saint, was more particularly a symbol 

 of the good works of the righteous ; when looped 

 above his head, it is a festal wreath equaUing the 

 victor's crown. Such a wreath is that of mingled 

 fruit and flowers above the head of Mantegna's 

 * Triumphant Saint George.' ' 



But the fruit in many of the devotional 

 pictures of the earlier Venetian masters would 



' Accademia, Venice. 



272 



