ry dark complexion; and in favour
of this idea they quoted this text from the Canticles, "I am black,
but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem." But others say that her
complexion had become black only during her sojourn in Egypt. At all
events, though the blackness of these antique images was supposed to
enhance their sanctity, it has never been imitated in the fine arts,
and it is quite contrary to the description of Nicephorus, which is
the most ancient authority, and that which is followed in the Greek
school.

The proper dress of the Virgin is a close red tunic, with long
sleeves;[1] and over this a blue robe or mantle. In the early
pictures, the colours are pale and delicate. Her head ought to be
veiled. The fathers of the primeval Church, particularly Tertullian,
attach great importance to the decent veil worn by Christian maidens;
and in all the early pictures the Virgin is veiled. The enthroned
Virgin, unveiled, with long tresses falling down on either side,
was an innovation introduced about the end of the fifteenth century;
commencing, I think, with the Milanese, and thence adopted in the
German schools and those of Northern Italy. The German Madonnas of
Albert Durer's time have often magnificent and luxuriant hair, curling
in ringlets, or descending to the waist in rich waves, and always
fair. Dark-haired Madonnas appear first in the Spanish and later
Italian schools.

[Footnote 1: In a famous Pieta by Raphael, engraved by Marc Antonio,
the Virgin, standing by the dead form of her Son, has the right arm
apparently bare; in the repetition of the subject it is clothed with
a full sleeve, the impropriety being corrected. The first is, however,
the most perfect and most precious as a work of art.--_Bartsch_, xiv.
34, 35.]

In the historical pictures, her dress is very simple; but in those
devotional figures which represent her as queen of heaven, she wears a
splendid crown, sometimes of jewels interwoven with lilies and roses.
The crown is often the sovereign crown of the country in which the
picture is placed: thus, in the Papal States, she often wears the
triple tiara: in Austria, the imperial diadem. Her blue tunic is
richly embroidered with gold and gems, or lined with ermine, or stuff
of various colours, in accordance with a text of Scripture: "The
King's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought
gold. She shall be brought unto the King in a vesture of needlework."
(Ps. xlv. 13.) In th