The Flight into Egypt by Martin Schongauer; engraving; ca 1470

The Virgin Mary and Child are seated on a donkey which lowers its head towards a thistle. The Virgin holds the reins in her right hand and a date in her left. Behind her five hovering angels in long garments pull down the crown of a date palm to enable the bearded Joseph, on the right, to pick fruit. Over his cloak he carries a bag and a water bottle on his back. In the far foreground is a large dragon tree with a parrot nibbling its fruit; behind it is a small fig tree and various other tree trunks, among which a stag stands beside a doe resting on the ground. Further in the distance there are hills, and in the centre background several buildings with a mountain range in the far distance to the right. A large lizard in the lower left foreground beside plants and stones. Two other lizards climb up and down the trunk of the dragon tree. Schongauer's monogram appears in the bottom centre of the print.

Purchase from Messrs Parson and Sons

Purchased from Messrs Parsons and Sons in 1893 as part of a group of etchings and engravings by Old Masters.

Schongauer's engraving of the Holy Family's flight into Egypt is remarkable for its inclusion of tropical trees - a date palm from which Joseph is plucking fruit and a dragon tree (Dracaena draco. L.) which is native to Africa and the Canary Islands. Schongauer has rendered these plants....


'The flight of the Holy Family to Egypt in order to escape the massacre of the Hebrew male infants is mentioned in Matthew. The Pseudo-St Matthew (20:1) is the source of the tale that angels appeared to help Joseph pick fruit for the Virgin Mary; according to the 'Golden Legend', the 'persidis' tree, known for its medicinal leaves, bowed down of its own accord to worship Christ as the family passed by.'

E.320-1893