rvant depart
in peace." The figure of Anna is poor and uninteresting; that of the
attendant, on the extreme left, very beautiful, both in its drapery
and in the severe and elevated character of the features and
head-dress.

[Footnote 21: See account of his principles above, p. 13, head C.]

* * * * *

XIX.

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

Giotto again shows, in his treatment of this subject, a juster
understanding of the probable facts than most other painters. It
becomes the almost universal habit of later artists to regard the
flight as both sudden and secret, undertaken by Joseph and Mary,
unattended, in the dawn of the morning, or "by night," so soon as
Joseph had awaked from sleep. (Matt. ii. 14.) Without a continuous
miracle, which it is unnecessary in this case to suppose, such a
lonely journey would have been nearly impracticable. Nor was instant
flight necessary; for Herod's order for the massacre could not be
issued until he had been convinced, by the protracted absence of the
Wise Men, that he was "mocked of them." In all probability the exact
nature and extent of the danger was revealed to Joseph; and he would
make the necessary preparations for his journey with such speed as he
could, and depart "by night" indeed, but not in the instant of
awakening from his dream. The ordinary impression seems to have been
received from the words of the Gospel of Infancy: "Go into Egypt _as
soon as the cock crows_." And the interest of the flight is rendered
more thrilling, in late compositions, by the introduction of armed
pursuers. Giotto has given a far more quiet, deliberate, and probable
character to the whole scene, while he has fully marked the fact of
divine protection and command in the figure of the guiding angel. Nor
is the picture less interesting in its marked expression of the night.
The figures are all distinctly seen, and there is no broad
distribution of the gloom; but the vigorous blackness of the dress of
the attendant who holds the bridle, and the scattered glitter of the
lights on the Madonna's robe, are enough to produce the required
effect on the mind.

The figure of the Virgin is singularly dignified: the broad and severe
curves traced by the hem and deepest folds of her dress materially
conducing to the nobleness of the group. The Child is partly sustained
by a band fastened round the Madonna's neck. The quaint and delicate
pattern on this band, together with that of