d St.
Damian, the patrons of the Medici family, then paramount at Florence.
(Sacred and Legendary Art.)

4. In an illuminated "Office of the Virgin," I found a version of
this subject which must be rare, and probably confined to miniatures.
Christ is seated on a throne and the Virgin kneels before him; he
bends forwards, and tenderly takes her clasped hands in both his own.
An empty throne is at the right hand of Christ, over which hovers
an angel bearing a crown. This is the moment which _precedes_
the Coronation, as the group already described in the S.
Maria-in-Trastevere exhibits the moment which _follows_ the
Coronation.

5. Finally, we must bear in mind that those effigies in which the
Madonna is holding her Child, while angels place a crown upon her
head, do not represent THE CORONATION properly so called, but merely
the Virgin honoured as Mother of Christ and Queen of Heaven (_Mater
Christi, Regina Coeli_); and that those representations of the
Coronation which conclude a series of the life of the Virgin, and
surmount her death-bed or her tomb, are historical and dramatic rather
than devotional and typical. Of this historical treatment there are
beautiful examples from Cimabue down to Raphael, which will be noticed
hereafter in their proper place.

THE VIRGIN OF MERCY.

Our Lady of Succour. _Ital._ La Madonna di Misericordia. _Fr._ Notre
Dame de Misericorde. _Ger._ Maria Mutter des Erbarmens. _Sp._ Nuestra
Senora de Grazia.

When once the Virgin had been exalted and glorified in the celestial
paradise, the next and the most natural result was, that she should be
regarded as being in heaven the most powerful of intercessors, and on
earth a most benign and ever-present protectress. In the mediaeval idea
of Christ, there was often something stern; the Lamb of God who died
for the sins of the world, is also the inexorable Judge of the quick
and the dead. When he shows his wounds, it is as if a vindictive
feeling was supposed to exist; as if he were called upon to remember
in judgment the agonies and the degradation to which he had been
exposed below for the sake of wicked ungrateful men. In a Greek "Day
of Judgment," cited by Didron, Moses holds up a scroll, on which is
written, "Behold Him whom ye crucified," while the Jews are dragged
into everlasting fire. Everywhere is the sentiment of vengeance;
Christ himself is less a judge than an avenger. Not so the Virgin;
she is represented as all mercy, s