The Flight into Egypt
Albrecht Dürer · c. 1503–5 · Cleveland Museum of Art
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From the museum
Although Dürer’s woodcut depicts a later event in the biblical narrative, the composition is similar to the scene from the Mirror of Holiness, "Mary and Joseph Travel to Bethlehem" CMA 2005.145.24.b—even to the inclusion of an ox. Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus fled Jerusalem for Egypt after Joseph was warned in a dream that Jesus’s life was in danger. The dense, dark forest through which the Holy Family travels seems to close threateningly around them. While the Indian artist envisioned a “pack beast” as a camel, Dürer invented a Middle Eastern landscape by incorporating a palm tree and other curious vegetation. The dense forest setting of the Flight into Egypt includes tropical trees and lizards.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
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Details
- Maker
- Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
- Date
- c. 1503–5
- Medium
- woodcut
- Place of origin
- Germany
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · Not on view
- Credit line
- Dudley P. Allen Fund
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0
More by Albrecht Dürer
Shown in
- Prince Salim's Life of Christ (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115Dec 2, 2019 – Jul 1, 2020
- Dürer's Women: Images of Devotion and DesireJun 22, 2014 – Sep 28, 2014
- Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the CollectionAug 17, 2003 – Nov 9, 2003
- From Block Books to Baskin: Artists as IllustratorsMay 13, 1986 – Aug 17, 1986
- Eight Masters of the PrintOct 14, 1980 – Jan 18, 1981
