Giotto, The Flight into Egypt

1305-1306
Fresco
Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy

In Matthew 2:13-15 an angel in a vision tells St. Joseph to take Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt, because Herod wants to kill the child. Following the added details in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, this image shows the family accompanied on their journey to Egypt by a girl and three boys. I am guessing that the girl is the one with a garland in her hair. The angel who had warned Joseph to take his family out of Israel continues to guide the group.

This panel is the fourth from the left in the middle register of the south wall of the chapel. It is preceded by the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and followed by the Slaughter of the Innocents.

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Photographed at the chapel by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.