The Holy Family rest on the way to Egypt, eating from a miraculous tree. Engraving by J. Frey after C. Maratta.

The flight into Egypt is described in Bible, N.T. Matthew 2.12-15. The story of a palm tree bending down at the will of the infant Christ to furnish the Holy Family with dates is told in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, chapters 20-21. In the present picture Joseph hands the fruit down to Christ: it appears to consist of olives on a branch. See further Louis Réau, Iconographie de l'art chrétien, Paris 1957, vol. 2, pp. 278-279