This pictorial tradition can be traced back to an engraving by Marc Antonio. It shows an almost naked woman of Giorgionesque type watering a flower. This enigmatic motif can be explained with the help of the literary tradition. It is a symbol of "Grammatica." As the plant grows through watering so the young mind is formed through the study of grammar. In late antiquity grammar became the foundation of the liberal arts. Rudolf Wittkower, Allegory and the Migration of Symbols, Thames and Hudson, 1977. Wittkower inventories some of the related features associated with Grammar in her allegorical representations: "an old woman carrying a vessel which is supposed to contain medicine for correcting the children's pronunciation and a knife for sharpening their defective tongues. She also holds a file, with which the grammatical mistakes can be removed." Ultimately, the watering of the flower became the chief motif of the allegory.

Laurent de la Hire, Grammar, 1650.

With the renewed interest in allegory associated with postmodernism, contemporary artists have brought photography to bear on the tradition of iconology, as in this work. "The Tears of Concupiscence" from the series Imprese by Olivier Richon Other Than Itself: Writing Photography Eds. John X. Berger and Olivier Richon, Cornerhouse Publications, 1989. How would you picture "ardent, sensuous longing" (lust)?