[Footnote 1:  Quasi plantatio rosae in Jericho.]

5.  The ENCLOSED GARDEN (Hortus conclusus) is an image borrowed, like many others, from the Song of Solomon. (Cant. iv. 12.) I have seen this enclosed garden very significantly placed in the background of the Annunciation, and in pictures of the Immaculate Conception.  Sometimes the enclosure is formed of a treillage or hedge of roses, as in a beautiful Virgin by Francia.[1] Sometimes it is merely formed of stakes or palisades, as In some of the prints by Albert Durer.

[Footnote 1:  Munich Gal.; another by Antonio da Negroponte in the San Francesco della Vigna at Venice, is also an instance of this significant background.]

The WELL always full; the FOUNTAIN forever sealed; the TOWER of David; the TEMPLE of Solomon; the CITY of David (Civitas sancti), (Cant iv. 4. 12, 15); all these are attributes borrowed from the Canticles, and are introduced into pictures and stained glass.

6.  The PORTA CLAITSA, the Closed Gate, is another metaphor, taken from the prophecy of Ezekiel (xliv. 4).

7.  The CEDAR of Lebanon (Cedrus exaliata, “exalted as a cedar in Lebanon"), because of its height, its incorruptible substance, its perfume, and the healing virtues attributed to it in the East, expresses the greatness, the beauty, the goodness of Mary.

The victorious PALM, the Plantain “far spreading,” and the Cypress pointing to heaven, are also emblems of the Virgin.

The OLIVE, as a sign of peace, hope, and abundance, is also a fitting emblem of the graces of Mary.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Quasi oliva speciosa in campis.]

8.  The Stem of Jesse (Isa. xi. 1), figured as a green branch entwined with flowers, is also very significant.

9.  The MIRROR (Specula sine macula) is a metaphor borrowed from the Book of Wisdom (vii, 25).  We meet with it in some of the late pictures of the Immaculate Conception.

10.  The SEALED BOOK is also a symbol often placed in the hands of the Virgin in a mystical Annunciation, and sufficiently significant.  The allusion is to the text, “In that book were all my members written;” and also to the text in Isaiah (xxix. 11, 12), in which he describes the vision of the book that was sealed, and could be read neither by the learned nor the unlearned.

11.  “The Bush which burned and was not consumed,” is introduced, with a mystical significance, into an Annunciation by Titian.

* * * * *

Besides these symbols, which have a mystic and sacred significance, and are applicable to the Virgin only, certain attributes and accessories are introduced into pictures of the Madonna and Child, which are capable of a more general interpretation.

1.  The GLOBE, as the emblem of sovereignty, was very early placed in the hand of the divine Child.  When the globe is under the feet of the Madonna and encircled by a serpent, as in some later pictures, it figures our Redemption; her triumph over a fallen world—­fallen through sin.