But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, " Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him."
When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, " Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, "Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away."
Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher).
John 20:11-18
The Legend of Briar Rose is the title of a series of paintings by the Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones which were completed between 1885 and 1890. The four original paintings–The Briar Wood, The Council Chamber, The Garden Court and The Rose Bower–and an additional ten adjoining panels, are located at Buscot Park in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom.from the wikipedia article on the Briar Rose series. You can see the rest of the paintings in the series there, and read the inscriptions. Burne-Jone's daughter (Margaret) was the model for Briar Rose.
Here an ancient Breton song that was probably known to Georgiana [Burne-Jone's wife] provides the subject and the title for the painting: Hélas! je sais un chant d'amor/Triste ou gai, Tour á tour (Alas, I know a love song/Sad or merry, each in turn). The work depicts an organist with a figure representing Love working the bellows. The figure of Love is sightless ('love is blind'), while Burne-Jones's abiding interest in the language of flowers is manifest un the painting, where tulips (symbolizing 'ardent love') and wallflowers ('bitterness') jointly represent the contradictory emotions expressed in the song.
This painting tells the story of a seven year old boy whose throat was cut for singing a Christian song in a Jewish city in Asia, but miraculously continued to sing when the Virgin Mary placed grain in his mouth. He died soon afterwards and was buried as a martyr. The flower symbolism of the white lily represents purity, that of the red poppy consolation, the dwarf sunflower adoration and the wallflower fidelity in adversity.
