3-101-089 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Cross with angels, 1849. Angels holding scrolls fly around a decorated cross which is sprouting leaves. The Latin inscription at the bottom reads: 'Arbor decora et fulgida ornata regis purpura', (O lovely and refulgent Tree, adorned with purpled majesty). Illustration to "Vexilla Regis", a hymn written by Venantius Fortunatus (c530-609 AD/CE) in honour of a large relic of the True Cross. Frontispiece from "Floriated Ornament: A Series of Thirty-one Designs", by Augustus Welby Pugin, Architect, [London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849].