So in the Repose in Egypt,--one of the most charming of these kindred subjects,--the attendant angels are a delightful feature, and so varied are their occupations, and so fanciful the conceits of the painters of this scene, that many pages might be devoted to a description of them. For example, Van Dyck, in his picture in the Ashburton collection, has represented the Virgin seated under a spreading tree, holding the Child, while a number of angels dance in a round to the music made by other angels in the clouds above. Lucas Cranach shows the angels washing linen; Albert Dürer represents St. Joseph as shaping a piece of wood with his axe; some of the many angels present gather up the chips and put them in baskets; others dance and frolic merrily [Illustration: VAN DYCK.--THE REPOSE IN EGYPT.] about the group, while still other more serious angels,--probably guardian spirits,--devoutly folding their hands, stand or kneel around the cradle of the Infant Jesus. Titian, in one of his pictures of this subject, introduced a little angel who waters the ass in a stream. Rembrandt gives his Repose the air of a gipsy camp, which is emphasized by the fact that the only light comes from a lantern hung on a tree. I do not know who painted a Repose that I have seen, to which a very human feeling is imparted by St. Joseph; he is shaking his fist at the ass, which has opened its mouth to bray. In the almost numberless representations of the Madonna and Child, and of the Holy Family, angels are frequently introduced. These subjects are so easily recognized, and, speaking generally, are so simply treated as to require no comment here. I have referred to the legend that an angel announced the approach of death to the Virgin Mary, and have explained the difference between the symbolism of this subject, and that of the Annunciation of the birth of Jesus, all of which is made clear by our illustration. In pictures of the death scene there are always angels present, in greater or lesser numbers. In the representations of the Assumption of the Virgin she is sometimes borne upward by angels, and again she ascends without aid. In all cases she is attended by choirs of angels, as in the magnificent Assumption by Titian, which is the pride of the Academy in Venice. In the purely devotional Assumptions such as that sculptured above the portal of the Cathedral of Florence,--the Santa Maria del Fiore,--the Virgin is within the mandorla, or almond-shaped aureole. She is clothed in white and wears a veil [Illustration: TITIAN.--THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.] and crown; her hands are joined and she ascends in a glory of light, surrounded by angels. The only special difference in these sculptures is the position of the Virgin, who sometimes sits, and again stands upright, in the mandorla. When the representation corresponds to this, except that the Virgin has no crown, it may more properly be called the Glorification of the Virgin.