fROM ACRE TO NAZARETH® 251 
of -Christianity, has been found upon religious pictures as long 
as any specimens of the art of painting have been known, 
which bear reference to the history of the church. The wood 
of the sycamore was used for the backs of all these pictures; 
and to this their preservation may be attributed; as the syca¬ 
more is never attacked by worms, and is known to endure, 
unaltered, for a very considerable time® Indeed, the Arabs 
maintain that it is not, in any degree, liable to decay. 
The second exhibits a more ancient style of painting : it is 
a picture of the Virgin, bearing, in swaddling clothes, the in¬ 
fant Jesus. The style of it exactly resembles those curious 
specimens of the art which are found in the churches of Rus¬ 
sia';* excepting, that it has an Arabic, instead of a Greek, in¬ 
scription. This picture, as well as the former, is painted ac¬ 
cording to the mode prescribed by Theophilus, in his chapter 
^ Be Tabulus Altariam S’\ which alone affords satisfactory 
proof of its great antiquity. The colours were applied to a 
priming of chalk upon cloth previously stretched over a wooden 
tablet, and covered with a superficies of gluten or size. The 
Arabic inscription, placed in the upper part of the picture, 
consists only of these w ords : 
Spatg tfje 
The third picture is, perhaps, of more modern origin than 
either of the others, because it is painted upon paper made of 
cotton, or silk rags, which has been also attached to a tablet of 
sycamore wood® This is evidently a representation of the Vir¬ 
gin Mary and the child Jesus, although the w ords *%%}£ Vjolg ,’ 9 
in Arabic, are ail that can be read for its illustration; what fol¬ 
lowed having been effaced. Three lilies are painted above 
Jesse, et requiescet super eumspiritus domlnV” (Marin. Sanut. Secret. Fidel. Cruc. 
lib. Hi. pars 7. c. 2.) Hence; the cause wherefore, in ancient paintings used for illu¬ 
minating missals, the rose; and the lily, separately or combined, accompany pictures of 
the Virgin. In old engravings, particularly those by Albert Durer, the Virgin is 
rarely represented unaccompanied by the Lily. Hence, again, the origin of those 
singular paintings wherein subjects connected with the history of Christ are repre¬ 
sented within a wreath of flowers, added, not for ornamental purposes alone, but as 
having a religious interpretation ; and hence, in all probability, the curious ancient 
legend of the miraculous jlomerxng of Joseph’s staff in the temple, whereby the 
will of God, concerning his marriage with the Virgin, was saitl to be miraculously 
manifested. See the book of “ The. Golden Legende,” as printed by Caxton. In the 
account given by duaresmius concerning Nazareth (lib. vii. c. 5 Elucid. Ter. Sanct.) 
Christ is denominated “ Flos campi, et lilium convallimn y cujus odor est sicui odor 
agri pleni Vid. tom. II. p 817. Antwerp. 1639. 
* See the first volume of these Travels, chap. II. 
f See the ancient manuscript published by Raspe, and referred to by Mr. Kerridfe 
i a his note upon the former picture. 
