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Flight into Egypt O, God, come to my assistance |
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 Detail. Additional images below |
The Flight into Egypt from a 15th century (c. 1450)
French Book of Hours. Leaf features Mary, seated upon a donkey,
carrying the infant Jesus. She wears a deep blue robe.
Joseph leads the group on foot. Following Mary and Jesus is a
woman wearing a pink dress and carrying a basket on her head. The
travelers traverse a landscape of green grass and large boulders.
Behind them are hills and a town. The sun shines directly above
Mary's head contributing to the luminosity of her golden halo. Surrounding the miniature on
all sides is a lovely ornate border of red, blue, yellow & white flowers, green leaves,
and blue & gold acanthus
leaves. Below the image are three lines of text written in a dark
brown ink with red rubrics. A large 3-line initial “D” opens the
text painted in blue on a gold background with an embedded floral theme.
The text reads " Deus in adiutorium meum intende" (O, God, come to my
assistance), which is the first line of Psalm 69. Back of
leaf contains 8 lines of text in dark brown and red. Slight
smudging to upper margin. A lovely depiction of this scene.
Size: 113 x 85 mm (approx. 4.5 x 3.3 inches) Miniature: 56 x 45 mm $2500 #IMC5299
Frame available for this item. |
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The Flight into Egypt is described in the Gospel of Matthew (2:13-23). According to the Gospel, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus escaped to Egypt after the Magi informed them that King Herod planned to murder all of the babies.
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Click image to enlarge
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