Virtual Nativity - The Return from Egypt to Nazareth

The right wall of Badoer-Giustinian Chapel within the Cappella di San Girolamo of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice contains a representation of ‘The Return from Egypt’ which is captured in a Christological cycle by Pietro Lombardo.

Pietro Lombardo (1435-1515) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor and architect who was born in Carona, Ticino, Switzerland.

“When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’”
Matthew 2.19-23

In Matthew 2:23, the return to Nazareth is said to be a fulfilment of the prophetic word, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene’. It is not clear which Old Testament verse Matthew might have had in mind; many commentators suggest it is Isaiah 11:1, where it says:

“A shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”
Isaiah 11.1

Giovanni Baglione (1566 – 1643) was an Italian painter, mainly religious subjects, and art historian. His pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over black chalk drawing of ‘The Return of the Hoy Family from Egypt’ is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. In his lifetime, he was much admired as a draughtsman. His drawings vary according to their function, with pen and ink mostly used for preliminary compositional sketches.