Jacopo Bassano (Jacopo Da Ponte), The Flight into Egypt
1534
Oil on canvas
Museo Civico, Bassano del Grappa, Italy
Flight into Egypt images derive from Matthew 2:13-15. In them usually Joseph leads the way with his walking staff while Mary rides the ass and holds the child. The device of picturing the child as naked and exposing his genitals was an innovation of the 15th century. In the 16th it continued in some works but was gradually abandoned.
Some early images included an old man with a satchel on a staff representing Mary's stepfather Salome. Bassano, however, has given the satchel to the boy behind Joseph. The boy is most likely Simeon, Joseph's son by an earlier marriage, who according to some of the legends accompanied the Holy Family on this journey.
The two figures following the ass do not reflect any detail in the various legends. They do make the number of fellow travelers be three. One source said the family was accompanied by three boys and a girl; but of course there is no girl here, and the person at the far left is not a boy but a man.
The two objects hanging from the man's staff appear to be fish or possibly some small mammal.
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Photographed at the museum by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.