The Virgin and Child in Egypt

Blake's Virgin and Child in Egypt from 1810 depicts the Holy Family during their flight from Herod's massacre of the innocents — their sojourn in Egypt before returning to Nazareth. Egypt held complex symbolic significance for Blake: the land of slavery where Israel was held in bondage before Moses's liberation, and simultaneously the ancient seat of the mystical wisdom that Blake associated with the hermetic and Neoplatonic traditions. The Virgin and Child in Egypt thus inhabited a symbolic geography that combined New Testament narrative with the long history of spiritual captivity and liberation that was central to Blake's prophetic vision. His tempera technique gave the image a characteristic flat, luminous quality.

Blake's oil on canvas combines his visionary figure style with an unusually atmospheric landscape setting, using warm desert tones and his characteristic bold outlines to create a contemplative sacred scene.