Oil on canvas, 51cm by 42cm. Signed: C H Fournier and inscribed: 49.
The painting depicts a scene from the Biblical story of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, which appears in the New testament Gospel of St. Matthew.
Joseph was warned in a dream to take his family into Egypt to escape from King Herod who was intending to slaughter all new-born male infants in an attempt to kill the ‘King of the Jews’ about whom he had heard from the Magi.
