Anno Domini

Also known as The Flight Into Egypt, Anno Domini shows the moment the Holy Family arrives in Egypt, as described in the New Testament. It was commissioned for the Lawrence Gallery in Bond Street, London. When exhibited there in 1883, it caused a sensation. It was on display to the public, for a fee, for many years and people queued to view the gigantic painting.

By the late 1870s a visit to Egypt and the Holy Land had become important for artists such as Edwin Long depicting antiquity, the Bible and the Orient. Anno Domini fits into the ‘orientalist’ way of seeing Egypt from a Western perspective. Merton’s substantial number of paintings by Long is a particular feature of our Collection.

We see the contrast between the humble Holy Family and the culturally different exotic, pagan world of Egypt. Anno Domini depicts fair-skinned Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ with darker skinned Joseph. They pass traders selling ‘shabtis’ (figurines placed in ancient Egyptian tombs) and Egyptians using good luck charms to heal a sick child. In the background is a procession of worshippers carrying a statue of the goddess Isis with her child Horus. In the distance, there is a monumental gateway to an Egyptian temple and the shapes of the pyramids in the glowing sunset.