The floral symbolism of the great masters - The Knowledge Den

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FLORAL SYMBOLISM
anity the emblems and symbols of the Church
were drawn from many sources; those that
were introduced at the Renaissance were fruits
and flowers. The Christ-Child holds the apple,
symbol of the Fall, or a pomegranate showing
the seeds, symbol of the Church. The lily typi-
fies the spotless purity of the Virgin. Saint
Dorothea is crowned with roses; Saint Joseph
holds the flowering rod. There were, of course,
other symbols used. Allegorical figures held
the sword of justice or the scales of judgment;
the mandorla, the halo, the orb of sovereignty
and the book of knowledge survived from the
Byzantine school; but those symbols which
first appeared or came into fashion, as it were,
at the Renaissance were fruits and flowers.
It was not strange that it should be so.
The new interest in the literature of ancient
Greece and Rome had revived the old classical
love of nature, of running brooks and leafy
forests, and of all the fresh unspoiled things
which shoot up clean and fragrant from the
earth. Saint Francis with his * jesters of the
Lord ' had gone singing through the vineyards
praising God for the light of the sun, for the