Scripture · Matthew 4:24
Matthew 2:14-15
Departure into Egypt (At the Inn)
So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
A saddled donkey waits in the darkness beside a doorway. A tall figure in a long coat stands nearby as the departure takes shape.
About the artwork
The journey has not yet become a landscape. Mary holds the Child beside a doorway, a saddled donkey waits in the darkness, and a tall bearded man carries a lantern. The Smithsonian identifies him as probably a guard who will help lead the family from the city, rather than Joseph. That possibility gives the scene an often overlooked participant: someone whose practical help may make departure possible.
Tanner’s other versions carry the family across open country. Here the narrow threshold keeps attention on getting ready to leave. The lantern belongs to that immediate work of finding a way in the dark; the immense distance to Egypt has been reduced, for the moment, to the next few steps.
Featured in: Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Bible Paintings: Humiliated at Home, Honoured in Paris
What does Matthew 2:14-15 mean?
Matthew 2:14–15 describes Joseph getting up, taking the child and His mother by night, and withdrawing to Egypt. It follows the angel’s warning that Herod intends to kill the child. The text moves quickly from danger to action and then to the family’s period of exile.
Matthew does not narrate a departure from an inn or mention an escort. Those details belong to the painting’s elaboration of the journey. Recognizing that distinction lets the doorway and waiting donkey suggest what leaving might involve without treating every painted object as a detail supplied by Scripture.
Tanner gives a visible threshold to Matthew’s brief account of a household leaving at night under an urgent warning.
Sources
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington (1983.95.193); oil on wood, 54.4 × 46.4 cm.
Henry Ossawa Tanner’s Bible Paintings: Humiliated at Home, Honoured in Paris. Artwork reading adapted from this guide.
Matthew 2 — Berean Standard Bible. Context for Matthew 2:14-15.
Also from Matthew:Marriage of the VirginThe Dream of Saint Joseph
Continue looking:Rest on the Flight into EgyptThe Triumph of the Innocents (small first version)Daniel in the Lions’ Den