__NOTOC__ ''The Flight into Egypt'' is an oil-on-copper

cabinet painting A cabinet painting (or cabinet picture) is a small painting, typically no larger than in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a small scale, rather th ...

by the German artist

Adam Elsheimer Adam Elsheimer (18 March 1578 – 11 December 1610) was a German artist working in Rome, who died at only thirty-two, but was very influential in the early 17th century in the field of Baroque paintings. His relatively few paintings were sma ...

dating from about 1609, while he was in Rome. It is thought to be the first naturalistic rendering of the night sky in

Renaissance art Renaissance art (1350 – 1620) is the painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period of European history known as the Renaissance, which emerged as a distinct style in Italy in about AD 1400, in parallel with developments which occurr ...

. At Elsheimer's death in Rome in 1610, this picture was hanging in his bedroom. Like many other artists before and after him, Elsheimer has depicted the biblical

Flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:13–Matthew 2:23, 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the Biblical Magi, visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Saint Joseph, Joseph in a dream telling ...

, in which

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

, and

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

seek refuge from possible persecution by Herod. For its innovative fusing of religious and landscape elements, and its detailed juxtaposition of light and darkness, ''The Flight into Egypt'' is one of Elsheimer's most well-known and lauded works. It is also likely his last painting, for he died a year later. Elsheimer's treatment is unique in placing the

Holy Family The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The subject became popular in art from the 1490s on,Ainsworth, 122 but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de La ...

in a nocturnal setting, true to the biblical description. The darkness creates opposing feelings of intimacy and fear of the unknown. The painting channels the mysteries of night, pondered by humans for centuries, into this moment of the Holy Family seeking refuge. There are four sources of light in the painting: the Moon is accurately depicted and reflects off the calm water. There is a fire near the shepherds at left, where the family is headed. At the centre of the composition, Joseph holds a torch that illuminates Mary and the infant, who are riding an ass. The heavily treed landscape behind them is almost black, its outline forming a diagonal across the sky and completely containing the foreground figures. The diagonal is echoed in the night sky by the intricate band of the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

, and detailed configurations of stars are seen, including

Ursa Major Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Its Latin name means "greater (or larger) bear", referring to and contrasting it with nearby Ursa M ...

at far left. Elsheimer is thought to be the first painter to accurately depict

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

s. Madlyn Millner Kahr (1993). ''Dutch painting in the seventeenth century.'' 2nd edition. Westview Press; pp. 94–95. Another readily identifiable constellation is

Leo Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

, above the Holy Family, with its brightest star,

Regulus Regulus is the brightest object in the constellation Leo (constellation), Leo and one of the List of brightest stars, brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation designated α Leonis, which is Latinisation of names, ...

, in the centre of the picture. It has been proposed that Elsheimer reworked the painting in 1610, after the publication of Galileo's ''

Sidereus Nuncius ''Sidereus Nuncius'' (usually ''Sidereal Messenger'', also ''Starry Messenger'' or ''Sidereal Message'') is a short astronomical treatise (or ''pamphlet'') published in Neo-Latin by Galileo Galilei on March 13, 1610. It was the first published ...

'', which showed the Milky Way as composed of individual stars and showed the Moon's surface in unprecedented detail. This hypothesis has been contested by Elsheimer scholar Keith Andrews. In addition to disclosing Elsheimer's interest in scientific topics, the appearance of the Milky Way has a spiritual connotation—it symbolized the path to heaven beginning in the Middle Ages. Elsheimer's sky, wrote art historian R. H. Wilenski, "is no longer a blackcloth but a symbol for boundless space".

Influence

Elsheimer's inventory shows the painting to have been located in his bedroom. The importance of Elsheimer's painting can be judged from a letter dated 14 January 1611 from

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

to the doctor, botanist and art collector

Johann Faber Johann Faber (1478 – 21 May 1541) was a Catholic theologian known for his writings opposing the Protestant Reformation and the growing Anabaptist movement. Biography Johann Faber, the son of a blacksmith, was born in Leutkirch, Swabia and ...

in which he discusses the extraordinary price of 300 ''scudi'' demanded by the widow. The painting eventually passed to

Hendrick Goudt Hendrick Goudt (c. 1583 – 17 December 1648) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draftsman of landscapes and religious subjects who was strongly influenced by Adam Elsheimer. Biography Goudt was born in The Hague, the son of Arend G ...

, who took it to

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. Elsheimer's works, including ''The Flight into Egypt'', influenced important near-contemporaries

Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...

and

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

's version of '' The Flight into Egypt'' (1627), with its unique illumination, may have been inspired by Elsheimer's. Rembrandt would have been familiar with Elsheimer's work through high-quality engravings made by his friend

. The influence of Goudt's prints on the work of other engravers, especially that of

Jan van de Velde Jan van de Velde the younger (1593 – c. 1 November 1641) was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker, mostly of animal, landscape and still-life subjects. He was the son of Jan van de Velde the Elder and the father of the still life painte ...

, was immediate. Elsheimer also inspired later artists, such as the German Romantic painter

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic Landscape painting, landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti ...

. The fire's illumination in Friedrich's '' Evening on the Baltic Sea'' (1831) recalls ''The Flight into Egypt''.Siegel, Linda (1978). ''Caspar David Friedrich and the age of German Romanticism''. Branden Books; p. 7.

References

External links

Alte Pinakothek page on ''The Flight into Egypt'', nv.-Nr. 216

"The Story Within a Landscape: Adam Elsheimer's ''The Flight Into Egypt'' is a small gem." ''The Wall Street Journal''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flight into Egypt 1609 paintings German paintings Collection of the Alte Pinakothek Elsheimer Moon in art Donkeys in art Oil on copper paintings

Influence

See also

References

External links