3-040-438 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Initial D: The Flight into Egypt; Ruskin Hours, about 1300. Additional Info:In this initial, a bedraggled ass, with its head bent down and tail between its legs, carries Mary and Christ away from the murderous soldiers ordered by King Herod to kill all male children under the age of two. In the margin below, a unicorn battles a griffin. It was thought that the unicorn could only be captured by a virgin; thus, it became a symbolic reference to Christ, who was born of a virgin. The sprightly and aggressive unicorn contrasts with the poor donkey, suggesting that despite the family's forlorn condition, Christ would ultimately triumph. The initial accompanies the text for compline in the Hours of the Virgin.