''Landscape with the Flight into Egypt'' is a 1563 oil on wooden board painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, showing the biblical Flight into Egypt of

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

and Joseph with the infant

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

. It measures and is displayed at the Courtauld Gallery in London. The work is a naturalistic world landscape, following the conventions established by

Joachim Patinir Joachim Patinir, also called Patenier (c. 1480 – 5 October 1524), was a Flemish Renaissance painter of history and landscape subjects. He was Flemish, from the area of modern Wallonia, but worked in Antwerp, then the centre of the art market ...

. The ostensible subject, 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, but veneration of the Holy Family was formally begun in the 17th century by Saint François de Laval, the fir ...

, are small figures in an imaginary panoramic landscape seen from an elevated viewpoint, with mountains and lowlands, water, and buildings. The subject had long been a popular one in Early Netherlandish art, and increasingly so since Patinir. Joseph is leading a donkey, bearing Mary who is holding the infant Jesus, tightly wrapped for the journey; his white head can be seen on her chest. They are descending a slope overlooking an Alpine landscape, with a wide river valley bordered by hills and mountains. The painting is dominated by tones of brown and green for the land, and the blue of the water and sky. Mary's unusual red cloak (rather than her traditional blue) and white headgear makes her stand out against the blue of the river, while Joseph's greyish clothes contrast with the green and brown background of wooded hills. In the background, the buildings of towns are faintly visible on each side of the river. On the tree stump to the right, a pagan statue has fallen out of its shrine as the family passed by, symbolising the triumph of Christ over paganism. This was one of a number of miraculous incidents that medieval legend had added to the very brief biblical story. A branch fallen against a tree creates a cross, presaging the

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

. Two tiny

salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All t ...

s, symbols of evil, can be seen below the figures (very near the bottom edge). The painting is signed "BRVEGEL MDLXIII". It was owned by Brueghel's patron Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517–1586), an important administrator in the

Habsburg Netherlands Habsburg Netherlands was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary, wife of Maximilian I of Austr ...

. The painting is mentioned in an inventory of 1607; it is the only painting which can be certainly identified as belonging to him. It was later owned by the artist

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradi ...

, who owned ten or eleven other Bruegels. It was not well known when it was auctioned at Christie's in London in 1939, and bought by Count Antoine Seilern. Together with the other Bruegel in the collection, '' Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery'', it was donated to the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

in the Princes Gate bequest in 1978.Braham, 6–7; Wied, 126

Notes

References

* Braham, Helen, ''The Princes Gate Collection'', cat. # 8, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London 1981, * Padel, Ruth
"Picture this"
''The Guardian'', 18 September 2010 *Wied, Alexander, ''Bruegel'', 1980, Studio Vista,

External links

''Landscape with the Flight into Egypt''
ArtUK

Courtauld Gallery {{Paintings by Pieter Bruegel (I) Paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder 1563 paintings Bruegel Paintings in the collection of the Courtauld Institute of Art Donkeys in art