Abstract

In the vast majority of representations of the Flight into Egypt, the child is huddled upon the Virgin’s lap or held in her arms. In addition to this traditional model, some interpretations of the Flight into Egypt show the child riding on Joseph’s shoulders or being held in his arms. The inventory of the representation of Joseph christophore from the fifth century to the mid-fifteenth century in Latin and Greek Christendom provides an insight into the frequency of this iconographic specificity of the Flight into Egypt, its diffusion and regional adaptations, as well as its meanings, via theological and exegetical texts.

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