Joseph holds the lantern low; its light falls on the road.
Bible in art · Matthew
The Flight into Egypt: a Night Piece
Rembrandt · 1651
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Rembrandt made this small night piece in 1651. Over a lightly etched design he laid dense hatching with the burin and drypoint, so that the whole plate is dark and only a lantern lights the road.
Joseph walks ahead, bent forward, holding the lantern low to see the path. Mary rides behind him on the donkey, wrapped in a heavy cloak.
From the text
- “He got up, took the Child and His mother by night” (Matthew 2:14)
- The angel’s warning to flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13)
The artist’s own
- A lantern — the Gospel only says “by night”
- The donkey with a basket of baggage — the text does not say how they travelled
Details
The lantern
Joseph
He walks bent forward, peering into the dark.
Mary
Mary sits on the donkey, wrapped in a cloak up to her chin.
Baggage
A basket hangs at the donkey’s side.
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch, 1606–1669. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1943.3.7221) · Etching, burin and drypoint on yellowish paper · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)