Related works

The Flight into Egypt, ca. 1470

From the ‘Life of Mary’

Blatt: 257 x 172 mm
Darstellung: 254 x 169 mm

Physical Description: Kupferstich

Inventory Number: 33709

Object Number: 33709 D

Acquisition: Acquired in 1849

Status: Can be presented in the study room of the Graphische Sammlung (special opening hours)

Texts

About the Work

As told in the Nativity of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, Herod the Great ordered all newborn boys in Bethlehem killed when he learned of the advent of a ‘king’. The Holy Family have been warned in time and flee to Egypt. On their way, angels bend a date tree down so that Joseph can pick its fruit. The arcade-like shape of the trunk links this scene to the two previous ones (33706, 33708, 36114). Schongauer could well have seen the subtropic dragon tree in the left foreground on travels in southern Spain.

Work Data

Basic Information

Title: The Flight into Egypt
From the ‘Life of Mary’

Artist

Martin Schongauer

Period Produced

15th century

Object Type

art print

Physical Description: Kupferstich

Material

Vergé paper

Technique

copperplate engraving

Geographic Reference

German

Label at the Time of Manufacture: Monogrammiert in der Platte unten mittig: M+S [S punziert]

Captions Added Later: Verso bezeichnet unten (mit Bleistift): 2 / 18/300
Verso unten links Stempel des Städelschen Kunstinstituts, Frankfurt am Main (Lugt 2356), mit zugehöriger Inventarnummer

Watermark

Kleiner Ochsenkopf mit Stange und Stern

Work Catalogues

Hollstein German XLIX.29.7
TIB Bd. 8 Commentary, Nr. 0801.007
Lehrs V.62.7
Bartsch VI.123.7

Property and Acquisition

Institution

Städel Museum

Departement

Department of Prints and Drawings

Collection

Städelsches Kunstinstitut

Creditline: Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main

Picture Copyright: Public Domain

Acquisition: Acquired in 1849

Work Content

Motifs and References

Genre

Persons Shown

Iconclass

Primary

73B641 the flight into Egypt: Mary, Joseph, the child (and sometimes others) on their way; Mary usually riding on an ass
73B8 Holy Family, and derived representations
73B birth and youth of Christ