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| Giotto, Flight into Egypt Italian, c. 1304-1306 Padua, Arena/Scrovegni Chapel |
I recently wrote an essay on the iconography of the Massacre of the Innocents,1 a now neglected portion of the Christmas story, which follows directly after the passage below concerning the Magi or Wise Men and the warnings God sent by way of dreams to them and to Saint Joseph:
“… the star that they had seen at
its rising preceded them, until it came and stopped over the place where the
child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the
star, and on entering the house they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and
did him homage. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their country by another way.
When they had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the
child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is
going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child
and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death
of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,
“Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 2:9-15
This portion of the Christmas story has also been subject to
a kind of general amnesia. We tend to
stop with the Magi offering their gifts to the Child and forget to mention the
warnings and the journeys they provoked.
The Wise Men receive a warning and return to their own country “by another
way”. Joseph gets up in the middle of
the night and bundles Mary and Jesus up to flee to Egypt.
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| Dream of the Magi From a Psalter English (Oxford), 1st quarter of 13th Century London, British Library MS Royal 1 D X, fol. 2v |
These lines should have particular resonance in our own day, when sudden changes to travel plans can be caused by troubles in the places to which we had intended going and when millions of the world’s people have become refugees, fleeing war and threats to their lives, bringing with them little but the clothing on their backs and on those of their innocent, bewildered children.
The Biblical amnesia that affects this episode of the Infancy of Jesus is now pretty well established, but it wasn’t always like this. Images of the warnings to the Magi and to Joseph and of the Holy Family as refugees pervade the history of western art. In fact, there are so many images of the “Flight into Egypt” and of the related subject of the “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” that it amused me when I was a student. It seemed that every other slide discussed in my classes on Renaissance and Baroque arts was of one of the two subjects.
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| Flight into Egypt From the Moone High Cross Irish, 8th Century Moone, Co. Kildare |
The image is simple and direct. It may derive from images seen in manuscripts imported into Ireland from Byzantium and North Africa (more recent history has obscured the fact that Ireland, in its position on the main north/south sea route along the western edge of Europe, was not as isolated in antiquity and the middle ages as it later became and had trading links with the far reaches of the Mediterranean, as well as with its nearer Atlantic neighbors, France, Spain and Scandinavia).
In general, the images associated with the Flight into Egypt
fall into several distinct categories.
I’ve broken them down below.
The “Simple” Image of the Flight
In the main, the iconography of the Flight into Egypt
remained remarkably consistent throughout history. The primary image is of Mary, carrying
Jesus, sitting on a donkey, usually led by Saint Joseph. Occasionally, Mary may be seen as walking instead of riding. Very occasionally Joseph may carry the Child. Additional variations occur through the
introduction of one or more angels who assist in guiding the family, sometimes
leading the donkey instead of Joseph, who then usually follows. Occasionally, additional human figures appear, either as fellow travelers or as onlookers.
These “simple” images form the major part of the iconography.
These “simple” images form the major part of the iconography.
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| Flight into Egypt Italian Ivory, End 11th-Beginning 12th Centuries Salerno, Diocesan Museum |
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Flight into Egypt Swiss Wall Painting, 12th Century Zillis, Church of St. Martin |
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| Gislebertus, Flight into Egypt French, c. 1120s Autun, Cathedral of St. Lazare |
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| Flight into Egypt Originally from the basilica of Saint Denis French, c.1145 Bryn Athyn, PA, Glencairn Museum |
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Attributed to Theodore Apsevdis, Flight into Egypt Byzantine, c. 1183 Cyprus Monastery Church of St. Neophytos |
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| Bonanno Pisano, Flight into Egypt Italian, after 1187 Pisa, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo |
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| Flight into Egypt From a Vita Christi English (York), c.1190 Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum MS 101, fol. 44v |
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| Flight into Egypt Italian (Apulia), c. 1196-1205 San Vito dei Normanni, Church of San Biagio |
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| Flight into Egypt French, c.1240 Beauvais, Cathedral |
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| Flight into Egypt From a Psalter-Book of Hours Belgian (Liege), c.1250-1300 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 76 17, fol. 32v |
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| Flight into Egypt from Liber de ortu beatae mariae et infantia salvatoris Italian (Rome), c.1275-1300 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 2688, fol. 4r |
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| Flight into Egypt Central Leaf from a Polyptych French, 14th Century New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art Very interesting in this ivory are the remains of the colors that were once applied to it There are touches of red in the cross of the nimbus around the head of the infant Jesus and in the reins of the donkey held by Saint Joseph and rose on the lips of Mary and Joseph. There are also traces of green in the incised marks that have retained some of the color that once adorned the landscape, remains of deep blue pigment under Mary's chin and touches of gold throughout. These traces suggest that the ivory was once highly colored. |
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| Duccio, Flight into Egypt Italian, c. 1308-1311 Siena, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo |
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| Giotto and Assistants, Flight into Egypt Italian, c. 1315-1320 Assisi, Basilica of San Francesco, Lower Church |
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| Flight into Egypt One of 27 Scenes from the Altarpiece of the Life of Christ from the Monastery of St. Clare German (Cologne), c.1370-1380 Cologne, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud |
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Master of the Coronation of the Virgin, Flight into Egypt From a Book of Hours Fragment French (Paris), c. 1395-1415 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M1068, fol. 6r |
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| Boucicaut Master, Flight into Egypt from Hours of Jeanne Bessonnelle French (Paris), c.1400-1425 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 1161, fol. 87r |
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| Conrad von Soest, Flight into Egypt German, c.1400 Paderborn, Episcopal Diocesan Museum and Cathedral Treasury |
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| Lorenzo Monaco, Flight into Egypt Italian, 1405-1410 Altenburg, Lindenau-Museum |
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| Paolo Schiavo, Flight into Egypt Italian, Late 1420s-Early 1430s Philadelphia, Museum of Art |
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| Masters of the Delft Grisailles, Flight into Egypt From a Book of Hours Dutch (Delft), c.1440 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 135 E 23, fol. 60v |
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| Fra Angelico, Flight into Egypt Panel from the Armadio degli Argenti Italian, c. 1451-1452 Florence, Museo di San Marco |
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| Cosimo Tura, Flight into Egypt Italian, c.1470s New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Glass Roundel with Flight into Egypt German (Upper Rhineland), 1480-1490 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection |
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| Bernardino Butinone, Flight into Egypt Italian, 1485 Chicago, Art Institute |
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| Jean Bourdichon, Flight into Egypt From the Hours of Frederic of Aragon French (Tours), c. 1501-1504 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 10532, fol. 158 |
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| Jan de Beer, Flight into Egypt Dutch, c. 1519-1527 Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland |
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| Bartolome Carducho, Flight into Egypt Spanish, c. 1600-1603 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Giovanni Andrea Ansaldo, Flight into Egypt Italian, c. 1620s Rome, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica |
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| Guido Reni, Flight into Egypt Italian, 1620 Bradford UK, Bradford Museums and Galleries |
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| Alessandro Turchi, Flight into Egypt Italian, c. 1630-1633 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Francisco de Zurbarán, The Flight into Egypt Spanish, Late 1630s Seattle, Art Museum |
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| Jean Tassel, Flight into Egypt French, c. 1640-1650 Rennes, Musee des Beaux-Arts |
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| Sebastien Bourdon, Flight into Egypt French, c.1644 Paris, Musee du Louvre |
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| Philippe de Champaigne, Flight into Egypt French, c.1650-1660 Senlis, Musee d'Art et d'Archeologie |
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| Carlo Maratta, Flight into Egypt Italian, 1652 Stourhead, National Trust |
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| Nicolas Poussin, Flight into Egypt French, 1657-1658 Lyon, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Johann Hiebel, Flight into Egypt German, c. 1727-1731 Leitmeritz (CZ), Jesuit Church of the Annunciation |
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| Noel Halle, Flight into Egypt French, 1759 Paris, Musee du Louvre |
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| Josef Bayer, Flight into Egypt Austrian, 1830 Vienna, Belvedere Museum |
Escape by Water
Virtually all the images of the flight into Egypt depict the Holy Family traveling by land, either on foot or with the aid of their trusty donkey. However, a handful of images depict them making at least part of the journey by boat. Presumably the body of water they are crossing by boat is the Red Sea or the River Nile. In either case, this may be a subtle reference to the crossing of these bodies by the ancient Israelites in their Exodus. It would be an appropriate reference for the infant Jesus, who is the promised Savior, born to complete salvation history, the beginnings of which include the events of the Old Testament.
To Continue the Story of the Iconography of the Flight into Egypt see |
| Luca Giordano, The Flight into Egypt Italian, 1701 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Follower of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Flight into Egypt Italian, c. 1750-1810 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
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| James Tissot, The Sojourn in Egypt French, c. 1886-1894 Dublin, National Gallery of Ireland |
The Flight Into Egypt -- The Variations
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© M. Duffy, 2017, images updated 2024
- Massacre of the Innocents at http://imaginemdei.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-holy-innocents-nearly-forgotten.html
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