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Summary The carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) as a symbolical attribute appears frequently in pictures with religious subjects and portraits of the Renaissance. The problem of its symbolical meaning has been dealt with by several scholars, and various interpretations have been suggested, such as “divine love”, “the death of Christ on the cross”, “love and friendship”, “marriage”, etc. Recently, Docent Ingvar Bergström has tried to show that the carnation in several well‐known Renaissance pictures must be understood as a symbol of the Passion of Christ (Passio Christi). During the Middle Ages the flower was a general symbol of Christ. The carnation further alludes to the Passion through its shape... like a medieval nail, by its red colour and by its very name in various languages, the German “nelke” being derived from “nägeIchen”, etc. A final proof for this theory is, according to Bergström, a detail in Fig. 3, where nails and a wreath of thorns are growing out of the carnation held by the madonna. Thus, according to Bergström, the artist has emphasized the significance of the carnation as a symbol of the Passion of Christ. The carnation can, states Bergström, be interpreted in the same way in most of the religious pictures and portraits discussed in his book. In view of the fact that the symbols of the Renaissance usually have a varied significance—which in the case of the carnation is proved by documentary evidence—Bergström's theory appears somewhat one‐sided and narrow. For instance, in the two madonna pictures (Fig. 2–3), the carnation might be interpreted as a symbol of marriage, stressing the character of Mary as “Mater et sponsa”, an idea which is further supported by the symbolical values in the two pictures. In several portraits the carnation can be interpreted as a “Memento mori”, the swiftly withering flower being a usual symbol of human life and earthly delights. (Fig. 4–6.) Finally, we should consider the fact that in some cases the carnation shows a botanical phenomenon usually known as proliferation; i.e. the actual flower is producing a new shoot. This process of proliferation might be understood as a symbol of revival in regard to the Lutheran idea of Christ as the defeator of death, and is of special interest when the carnation appears in works of art produced within a Lutheran environment, as, for instance, the portrait by tom Ring (Fig. 8).