Legends of the Madonna, as represented in the fine artsForming the third series of Sacred and legendary art . 120 The Robber. One of the most popular legends concerning the Flight intoEgypt is that of the palm or date tree, which at the com-mand of Jesus bowed down its branches to shade and refresh hismother; hence, in the scene of the Flight, a palm tree becamea usual accessory. In a picture by Antonello Mel lone, theChild stretches out his little hand and lays hold of the branch;sometimes the branch is bent down by angel hands. Sozo-menes relates, that when the Holy Family reached the termof
Legends of the Madonna, as represented in the fine artsForming the third series of Sacred and legendary art . 120 The Robber. One of the most popular legends concerning the Flight intoEgypt is that of the palm or date tree, which at the com-mand of Jesus bowed down its branches to shade and refresh hismother; hence, in the scene of the Flight, a palm tree becamea usual accessory. In a picture by Antonello Mel lone, theChild stretches out his little hand and lays hold of the branch;sometimes the branch is bent down by angel hands. Sozo-menes relates, that when the Holy Family reached the termof their journey, and approached the city of Heliopolis inEgypt, a tree which grew before the gates of the city, andwas regarded with great veneration as the seat of a god, 254 LE&ENDS OF THE 121 Guido. bowed down his branches at the approach of the infant it is related (not in legends merely, but by graA^ereligious authorities) that all the idols of the Egyptians fellwith their faces to the earth. I have seen pictures of theFlight into Egypt, in which broken idols lie by the way-side. In the course of the journey the Holy Travellers had tocross rivers and lakes ; hence the later painters, to vary thesubject, represented them as embarking in a boat, sometimessteered by an angel. The first, as I have reason to believe,who ventured on this innovation, was Annibal Caracci. In thislittle sketch, after Poussin (122.), the Holy Family are aboutto embark. In a picture by Giordano, an angel, with one kneebent, assists Mary to enter the boat. In a pretty little pictureby Teniers, the Holy Family and the ass are seen in a boatcrossing a ferry by moonlight; sometimes they are crossing abridge. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 255
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectmaryblessedvirginsaint
