Biblical Scene - Flight to Egypt

The Flight into Egypt — Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus fleeing Herod's massacre of the innocents — is among the most frequently depicted scenes in Christian art. Watanabe's katazome version renders the family's journey with the directness of folk art: the donkey, the figures, and the landscape all simplified to their essential forms, the bold earth tones of the mingei palette giving the scene warmth and dignity rather than pathos. The holy family moves through the print's space with the same purposeful gravity as the peasant figures in any traditional Japanese folk-art image.