The floral symbolism of the great masters - The Knowledge Den

THE LILY 43
sweet and piercing. Their form is simple but
noble, and they are above all remarkable for the
immaculate and luminous whiteness of their
firm petals.
After the twelfth century the lily is always
used as the symbol of purity in its perfection,
and is most usually associated with the Virgin
Mary and with saints of the monastic orders.
More rarely it is used as an attribute of the
Persons of the Holy Trinity. In a large picture '
representing the Trinity in Glory, by an unknown
Neapolitan painter of the seventeenth century,
God the Father holds a stalk of UHes in his left
hand, above which hovers the mystic Dove.
Since Christian iconography gives no attributes
to God the Father except the orb and crown of
omnipotence, the lily must be taken as the attri-
bute of the Holy Ghost ; and in a rare subject.
The Adoration of the Holy Ghost," ascribed
by Behrenson to the Amico di Sandro, the two
angels with swinging censers and lovely floating
draperies, who adore the hovering Dove, carry
each a hly. The Dove in conjunction with the
lily is also found upon the great central doors of
' Naples Museum. ^ Stroganofi Collection, Rome.