This week I've been obsessed with paintings of the Flight to Egypt composed while Victorians were super into ancient Egypt and thus place the Holy Family along the Nile and amongst the pyramids and sphinx. I love how Egyptian they are. At first, it seems like, well, the Victorians just wanted to see pyramids. But the more I look at them, the more they've made me think about how out of place the Holy Family was, how far away from home. The ridiculousness of the images makes you long to place the Holy Family back in a context where they belong, which, is where they wanted to be as well. That's the whole point about being forced to flee one's home; you didn't want to leave, and you long for the time when you can safely return. Until then, you seek shelter in strange, new worlds, even the strange, new world of ancient lands.
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1. Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1880), Luc-Olivier Merson
2. Landscape with the Flight to Egypt (date unknown, late 1700s), William Byrne
3. Flight into Egypt (date unknown, probably late 1890s), Eugène Girardet
4. The Flight into Egypt (illustration 1873, engraving after), illustration Sampson Low; engraving Albert Robida
5. Flight into Egypt (1850-1860), Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps
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