Joseph Receiving the Command of God to Flee into Egypt

The esonarthex of the Katholikon was decorated around 1600 with wall paintings. Four large compositions cover the walls and the vault. The Slaughter of the Innocent, episodes from the cycle of the Birth of Christ, the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Last Judgement.

Joseph Receiving the Command of God to Flee into Egypt
This episode is part of the second large-scale composition of the esonarthex, the one with scenes from the Nativity cycle. The various episodes of the cycle are set in a single mountain landscape. This continuous depth of the scenes has a picturesque quality, thanks to the churches and the small, fortified cities on the hill-tops, the scattered trees, even a water-mill. In the centre of the composition, Joseph is depicted in a very tranquil pose, asleep, while he is receiving the command from God to flee into Egypt, taking Christ and the Virgin with him. Around the figure of Joseph are set the scenes of the Adoration, the Flight of the Magi and the Flight into Egypt. The pictorial technique used in this scene, the tall and slender figures and the beauty and tranquility in Joseph’s face, the soft drapery of the garments, the multi figural total composition and the continuous landscape-depth, along with the obvious virtuosity of the painter, lead to the attribution of the paintings to one of the most important Cretan artists, possibly from the circle of the painter Angelos, who is believed to be one of the exquisite artists invited to Patmos by the monastery during the period from 1580 onwards.