⭐ 19: The Flight into Egypt

An oil painting dating back to the 18th century, attributed to the ‘artist who painted the Knight's Hall in Brežice’  

 


“When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt.” (Scripture, Mt 2, 13–14).
The oil painting depicts the Holy Family – Joseph and Mary with the Son of God – as refugees on the run from Bethlehem to Egypt, which offered refuge to refugees from Palestine.
In this day and age, as many are fleeing their homeland to escape from the dangers and persecution of war, political, religious, or racial reasons, it is somewhat easier to understand the plight of the Holy Family. Shortly after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had to flee from the cruelty of King Herod, who initiated a murder of all the infants for fear that one of Bethlehem's children would become the Messiah.

For heritage enthusiasts:

In the physical inventory book titled Cultural History 1, the oil painting is listed under consecutive number 15, which means that it was one of the first objects acquired by the museum. There is a note saying that the painting was restored in 1966 and that the painter who created it was ʽthe artist who painted the Knight's Hall in Brežice’. Years ago, the artists who painted the Knight's Hall frescoes was unknown, today, however, it is known for a fact that the frescos were painted by Frančišek Karl Remb (1675–1718). A stylistic analysis cannot confirm such an attribution, the depiction of the Holy Family's flight into Egypt, the use of light and a balanced composition, however, are typical of the mature Baroque.
Frančišek Karl Remb spent some time in Brežice between 1702 and 1703, when he was painting the Knight's Hall. After that, he established himself as a fine painter in Graz and Vienna, where he painted commissioned works for the nobility and many ecclesiastical clients, thus passing into the history of Austrian Baroque painting.
 

A cartouche surrounded by ornamental grisaille on the Knight's Hall ceiling depicts the biblical story of the Judgement of Solomon. The painting shows a mother's fear and distress over the child's murder, much like the fear felt by Mary and Joseph over Herod’s execution of children.	Frančišek Karl Remb (1675–1718), the artist who allegedly painted the oil painting The Flight into Egypt. He created his self-portrait as part of Posavje Museum Brežice's Knight's Hall, which he painted with frescoes in 1703. The size of the fresco with the artist's self-portrait is approximately 110 x 86 cm.

The picture depicts a scene from the Holy Family's flight to Egypt, when Joseph and Mary with the infant Jesus in her arms flee into uncertainty, not knowing where they will find a safe refuge and when they will be able to return home. This scene is the fourth scene of the cycle of Jesus’s childhood in the Gospel According to Matthew, in which an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him to flee to Egypt, since King Herod would seek the child to kill him. The Holy Family is depicted during the flight, already leaving the forest behind. Joseph and Mary's ordeal is expressed through the latent restlessness in Joseph's otherwise determined gait, which subsides in the noble, distinctly genre-typical human figure of Mary and haloed Jesus in her arms. Joseph and Mary’s bond in caring for the infant's safety is expressed through their holding hands, while Mary's devoted gaze is directed towards Jesus. St. Joseph is wearing a sack over his right shoulder with a carpenter’s square and two handles sticking out of it as genre-typical symbols of Joseph's carpentry profession. Joseph and Mary are depicted wearing draped clothing in baroque blue-red colours. The Son of God is naked carried by Mary in a sling made of white linen.
 

Up until 1941, when it was demolished by the Germans, the monastic Church of St. Anthony of Padua was one of Brežice's three churches. A ʽBrežice by the River Savaʼ postcard, 1921, Inv. No. Z3-1158.

For more information see:

• Černelič Krošelj Alenka, Jovičić Nataša: Francis Carl Remb (Radovljica, 1675—Vienna, 1718): Self-portrait in the Knights' Hall in the Brežice Castle (The Posavje Museum Brežice), around 1703. Tactile exhibition, Brežice: Posavski muzej Brežice, 2018. 
• Černelič Krošelj Alenka (ur.): The Knight’s Hall of Brežice Castle. Walk amid Waters, in the Fresh Air and on Earth with a Fiery Glow, Brežice: Posavski muzej Brežice, 2021. 
• Lorber Oži: Sledi sakralne dediščine Posavja 17. in 18. stoletja / Traces of Sacral Heritage of 17th and 18th century Posavje, Catalogue of the permanent exhibition, Brežice: Posavski muzej Brežice, 2012.
• Škofljanec Jože (ur): S patri smo si bili dobri: tri stoletja brežiških frančiškanov, Brežiške študije 4, Brežice: Društvo za oživitev mesta Brežice, 2013.     
• Sveto pismo stare in nove zaveze, slovenski standardni prevod iz izvirnih jezikov, študijska izdaja, Ljubljana: Svetopisemska družba Slovenije, 2007.     

Prepared by: Oži Lorber and Andreja Matijevc
 
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