Scripture · Matthew 2:17-18
Matthew 2:14-15
The Triumph of the Innocents (small first version)
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.”
In this small first version, the infant Jesus is held upright and an unusually large group of babies floats above the travelers. The composition already reaches beyond an account of escape toward Hunt’s vision of companionship after death.
What does The Triumph of the Innocents (small first version) show?
Mary rides the pale donkey while Joseph leads it across the water with a large bundle on his back. Garlanded children cluster beside them; a second group occupies the night sky. The red monogram and date at the lower left belong to the painting’s early work, but Harvard dates its completion to 1903. It was not finished in a single brief campaign.
The object is The Triumph of the Innocents, not a separate uncomplicated Flight into Egypt. Hunt’s memoir recalls finding this packed-away study undamaged after his Jerusalem house had deteriorated. Its survival mattered because the larger project was beset by problems with canvas. The small painting retains its own arrangement rather than serving as a thumbnail of the Walker version.
Featured in: William Holman Hunt’s Bible Paintings: A Goat, a Gun and The Light of the World
What does Matthew 2:14-15 mean?
Matthew 2:14–15 tells of Joseph leaving by night with Jesus and Mary after the angel’s warning. Their refuge in Egypt lasts until Herod’s death. Matthew connects the return with Hosea’s words about God calling His son out of Egypt, bringing Israel’s story into his account of Jesus.
The surrounding children are Hunt’s addition. Matthew recounts the massacre elsewhere in the chapter, but does not describe its victims joining the journey in spirit. The paired passage anchors the travelers and their urgent departure while leaving the artist’s vision of the Innocents clearly identified as interpretation.
Matthew 2:14–15 identifies the nighttime flight within Hunt’s larger, imaginative Triumph of the Innocents.
Sources
Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1943.195); oil on canvas, 75.3 × 126 cm.
William Holman Hunt, Pre-Raphaelitism and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, vol. II (1905). The artist’s retrospective account; passages and page references recorded in the accompanying publication research.
Hunt’s Bible paintings: artwork history and sources. Researched manuscript and cited primary accounts; publication review October 15, 2026.
Also from Matthew:Marriage of the VirginThe Dream of Saint Joseph
Continue looking:Departure into Egypt (At the Inn)Belshazzar’s Feast