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Vittore Carpaccio Venetian, c. 1465 - 1525/1526 The Flight into Egypt, c. 1515 oil on panel, painted surface: 72 x 111 cm (28 3/8 x 43 11/16 in.) including attached pieces: 74 x 113 cm (29 1/8 x 44 1/2 in.) Andrew W. Mellon Collection 1937.1.28 |
Object 5 of 7
Mary and Joseph's flight to protect Jesus from Herod's slaughter of Hebrew babies is recounted by Matthew in the Bible. The subject often decorated predellas (small scenes at the base of altarpieces), but this painting is too large to be a predella panel. It most likely was not the central section of an altarpiece either, since those were usually meditative, devotional images rather than narrative ones like this. Perhaps it was made for a religious confraternity. Such scuole were among the most important patrons of Venetian painters. Their commissions accounted for Carpaccio's best-known works -- large, bustling scenes that are full of detail and provide valuable information about life in renaissance Venice. Here, the distant village and covered boat gliding past offer a hint of Carpaccio's delight in storytelling.
While Bellini began to use layered oil glazes to soften the edges of his forms, Carpaccio continued to favor a harder (and increasingly old-fashioned) use of line, which in this case enhanced his narrative purpose. Hard contours accentuate the gait of the ass and the long stride of Joseph, and they help frame the Virgin and Child in a way that almost enthrones them on their humble mount. In contrast, the luminous undersides of the clouds reveal the influence of Bellini's treatment of light.
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