BROEDERLAM, Melchior
(active 1381-1409)

The Flight into Egypt

1393-99
Tempera on wood
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon

The most significant of the four scenes of the Dijon Altarpiece is that representing the Flight into Egypt. The Gospel according to St Matthew relates this episode in a few succinct words: "And Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt." With only this brief indication from the original text, painters have always had to draw on other sources in order to add flesh to their image.