The LAMP, LANTERN, or TAPER, is the old emblem of piety: ‘Let your light so shine before men:’—and it also signifies wisdom. In the first sense we find this attribute in the hand of St. Gudula, St. Geneviève of Paris, and St. Bridget; while the lamp in the hand of St. Lucia signifies celestial light or wisdom. FLOWERS and FRUITS, often so beautifully introduced into ecclesiastical works of Art, may be merely ornamental; Crivelli, and some of the Venetian and Lombard painters, were fond of rich festoons of fruit, and backgrounds of foliage and roses. But in some instances they have a definite significance. Roses are symbolical in pictures of the Madonna, who is the ‘_Rose of Sharon_.’[11] The wreath of roses on the brow of St. Cecilia, the roses and fruits borne by St. Dorothea, are explained by the legends. The apple was the received emblem of the Fall of Man and original sin. Placed in pictures of the Madonna and Child, either in the hand of the Infant Christ, or presented by an angel, it signified Redemption from the consequences of the Fall. The pomegranate, bursting open, and the seeds visible, was an emblem of the future—of hope in immortality. When an apple, a pear, or a pomegranate is placed in the hand of St. Catherine as the mystical _Sposa_ of Christ, which continually occurs, particularly in the German pictures, the allusion is to be taken in the scriptural sense: ‘The _fruit_ of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.’ V. OF THE SIGNIFICANCE OF COLOURS. In very early Art we find colours used in a symbolical or mystic sense, and, until the ancient principles and traditions were wholly worn out of memory or set aside by the later painters, certain colours were appropriate to certain subjects and personages, and could not arbitrarily be applied or misapplied. In the old specimens of stained glass we find these significations scrupulously attended to. Thus:— WHITE, represented by the diamond or silver, was the emblem of light, religious purity, innocence, virginity, faith, joy, and life. Our Saviour wears white after his resurrection. In the judge it indicated integrity; in the rich man humility; in the woman chastity. It was the colour consecrated to the Virgin, who, however, never wears white except in pictures of the Assumption. RED, the ruby, signified fire, divine love, the Holy Spirit, heat, or the creative power, and royalty. White and red roses expressed love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the garland with which the angel crowns St. Cecilia. In a bad sense, red signified blood, war, hatred, and punishment. Red and black combined were the colours of purgatory and the Devil.