Hugo van der Goes has painted almost these same flowers of the Adoration in his Fall.[361] Adam and Eve stand beneath the tree from which Eve reaches an apple. The lizard-bodied tempter stands behind. In the centre of the foreground, in front of the figures, is the iris, the columbine, the violet, a rose-bush not yet in bloom and the strawberry. There is also a pansy (which is rare as a symbol, except in England where it was named Herb Trinity,) and its meaning in this picture does not seem clear. These flowers, used elsewhere as the emblems and attributes of Jesus Christ, here are introduced to recall the coming of the ‘second Adam,’ exactly reversing the symbolism which places an apple in the hand of the Infant Christ. [Illustration: _Hugo van der Goes_ _Photo Brogi_ THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)] THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION BY MURILLO In the 17th century the Spanish Inquisition appointed certain _familiares_ whose warrant ran: ‘We give him commission and charge him hence forward that he take particular care to inspect and visit all paintings of sacred subjects which may stand in shops or in public places; if he finds anything to object to in them he is to take the picture before the Lords of the Inquisition.’ Murillo, painting for the Church in Seville, the most orthodox city of Spain, may therefore be reckoned correct in his method of presenting sacred subjects. At the period in which he painted, the particular form of Madonna picture most often ordered by the Spanish Church, was that known as the ‘Immaculate Conception.’ The sinless birth of the Virgin was a dogma that had been adopted enthusiastically by the Spanish, so much so that Philip III and Philip IV sent special embassies to Rome to obtain more explicit papal recognition of the doctrine. It did not, however, become an article of faith till 1854 and, as a subject, it is chiefly confined to the Spanish School. The scheme of the picture is invariably taken from the Revelation of St. John. ‘And there appeared a great wonder in Heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.’ It was usual to add a group of _putti_ about the Virgin’s feet (her feet, according to an injunction of the Inquisition as to ‘decency’ being carefully covered) and these _putti_ almost always carried flowers, the rose, lily, olive and palm. Sometimes the iris was added, and occasionally the iris alone was used.[362] Very often a _putto_ carries a looking-glass,[363] a symbol of the Immaculate Conception which appears to be of Spanish origin, but which is perhaps a variation or development of the transparent vase, which in the 15th century art was a symbol of the virgin birth of Christ. The idea is that the glass, whatever be the image cast upon it, remains in itself unstained.