By Barbara Aniello
Rome - Just one more step, and Mary and Jesus will fall over the precipice; just one more step, and everything for which Joseph has lived, worked and fought will vanish.
This is how Giotto paints the extraordinary precariousness of the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt. Every character is uncertain, doubtful, worried. Three servants confabulate and mimic the uncertain gait of the donkey's legs with their fingers. A fourth servant speaks worriedly with Joseph. Everyone hesitates, everyone fears, everyone except for Mary. Her faith is a rock, like the one depicted behind her. Solid, robust, unwavering, this triangular mountain alludes to the stable Trinity that guides Mary and the fruit of her womb. Her arms carry Jesus; at the same time, he carries her.
If Jesus is the fulcrum of the procession, it is Joseph who leads it.
The humble, earthly father precedes all of the travelers, even moving ahead of the angel, who hovers over the scene. This man carries out God's plans, is guided by God’s will, conforms to God’s orders, perfectly combining obedience and leadership. After a considerable period of time devoted to doubt, Joseph’s humility allows him to choose the right path.
Guided by God, Joseph leads the Holy Family. Among dangers and chasms that open at his feet, he advances hesitantly but faithfully. He moves forward and looks back to his young family. His only certainty is Jesus, to whom he always looks. Just as his doubts were dispersed at the beginning, they are dispersed again, with the Son as his centre, the fulcrum of a story that is humanly ineffable, but spiritually conceivable.
Dr. Barbara Aniello is an art historian, musicologist and cellist. She is currently an associate lecturer at the Pontifical Gregorian University in the Faculty of History and Cultural Heritage of the Church.
Listening: Marchetto da Padova’s motet, Ave Regina Coelorum, was composed in honour of Mary and performed at the inauguration of the Cappella degli Scrovegni. (Performed by Ensemble D.E.U.M.)
Image: Giotto di Bondone, The Flight into Egypt, 1303-1305. (Cappella degli Scrovegni, Padova). Source Dr. Barbara Aniello