The Flight into Egypt c.1550-1660
Oil on panel | 53.3 x 76.9 x 1.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402743
-
In this night-scene a woman with a torch leads a donkey bearing a child. On either side of the donkey is a man and in the foreground there is a dog. The painting is usually described as ‘The Flight into Egypt’ - the moment when Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus flee to Egypt to escape King Herod - but it is most unusual for the Virgin to lead the donkey and this identification is not certain; it could instead be a purely pastoral scene. Persistently linked to the Dutch artist David Teniers, the panel was cleaned in 1967 revealing an un-Bassanesque, transparent technique over a dark, brownish ground. It does not seem to be by Teniers, and the panel seems to be Italian, but it could be the work of a Northerner in Italy.
Provenance
Possibly the picture acquired by Charles II from Frizell at Breda, 1662, ‘One night peece of Teniers in the manner of old Bassano’; listed in the King's Dressing Room next Paradise at Hampton Court in 1666 (no 47)
-
Creator(s)
-
Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
53.3 x 76.9 x 1.0 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
60.5 x 83.6 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Subject(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
The Flight into Egypt (?)