ous that this supposedly exhaustive authority
on church symbolism gives no account of the origin and history of this
emblem.]

[Footnote 17: See Madonna pictures by Raphael, Titian, Correggio, and
Michelangelo in other volumes of the Riverside Art Series.]

[Footnote 18: _Eps_, with the curious mark above, stands for
_episcopus_.]

V

BOYS WITH CYMBALS

BY LUCA DELLA ROBBIA

The bas-relief of our illustration is one of a series of marble panels
designed to ornament the singing-gallery of a church. The children
moving forward with song and cymbal remind us of the bands of singers
and musicians who took part in religious processions of ancient times.
We read of such processions among both the Greeks[19] and the Hebrews.
[20]

The custom of singing was adopted by the Christian church from its
foundation,[21] and gradually the musical part of the service was
developed into a fine art. There was a famous system of choral
chanting under Pope Gregory I.,[22] and in the eleventh century part
singing was introduced. At length the organ came into use, and by the
fifteenth century it had become an important part of the church
furnishings.

It was early in this century when the wardens of the cathedral at
Florence had an organ constructed on what the old writer Vasari called
"a very grand scale." In connection with this an organ loft, such as
the Italians call a _cantoria_, was needed to accommodate the singers.
The Florentine sculptor, Luca della Robbia, received the order for
this work, and was occupied with it some nine years (1431-1440).

The cantoria is entirely of marble, built like a balcony, with the
upper part or balustrade supported on five consoles or brackets. Four
square bas-reliefs, separated by pilasters, ornament the front of the
balustrade, and four more fill the corresponding spaces below,
separated by the consoles. The artist took as the motive of his
decorative scheme the one hundred and fiftieth psalm. This hymn of
praise furnished his imagination with a series of pictures
illustrating many kinds of music. The entire psalm is quoted in the
Latin version on the gallery, the inscriptions running in narrow bands
across the top and bottom and between the two rows of panels. These
are the verses in the familiar English version of King James, grouped
in the three sections into which they are divided:--

"Praise God in his sanctuary:
praise him in the firmament of his power.
Prais