When the great artist, Sir Alma-Tadema, was painting his
“Heliogabalus,” which made a sensation during its exhibition at
the British Royal Academy, and in which roses are a prominent
feature, he was in the habit of receiving from Italy a fresh box
of roses twice a week, so that he literally and actually had a
new model for every individual blossom.
If the painter must live in close and delicate touch with nature,
much more must the messenger of Christ abide in direct communion with
the Savior if he would catch the virtue, the color and the aroma of
celestial things. (Text.)
(1666)