Landscape with the Flight into Egypt

1624

Roelandt Savery

Artist, Dutch, 1576 - 1639

Livestock, woodland animals, and about a dozen people cluster in groups throughout a densely wooded landscape with rocky outcroppings and the ruins of a round structure in this horizontal painting. The people all appear to have light skin. A narrow river curves from near the lower left corner of the composition back around a grove of trees on a spit of land. One white, long-necked bird stands near a rock on the riverbank, and a second bird, shown in flight low over the water, clutches a short snake in its beak. Three deer stand in the deeply shadowed trees, and two goats perch on the rocky cliffs that rise steeply beyond the deer. Across the composition, in the lower right corner, a man wearing a gray jacket and high boots, red pants, and a floppy, wide-brimmed, gray hat stands with a long staff propped on one shoulder. He has ruddy complexion and a bulbous nose. He is surrounded by seven brown, gray, tan, and black cows and three pale gray goats. He and his livestock are backed by a screen of tall, leafy trees. The spaces around the cowherd and the deer to the left are shadowed to create a dark U across the bottom of the landscape, so the sunlit scene beyond is notably lighter in comparison. Just above the center of the composition, plants and trees grow on and among the ruins of the gray, round tower. Two arched openings extending to our left also crumble and are largely taken over with plants. At the base of the tower, water pours from a spigot into a rectangular, presumably stone trough. Three cows drink from the trough while more cows and a herd of about a dozen sheep stand and lie nearby. Several men sit, stand, or kneel near the cows around the trough. Painted loosely with pale gray and tan, several people pass under the archway closest to the tower. One person rides a donkey there. Close by, two elegantly dressed men wearing hats, perhaps turbans, stand and gesture with one arm raised. One man wears a charcoal-gray cloak over a red tunic and pants, and the other wears a forest-green cloak over yellow clothing. Another donkey and at least two smaller animals, perhaps dogs, stand near the men and the second archway, to our left. A grassy hill rises sharply behind the archways to the edge of a dense forest, where the camels, birds, perhaps peacocks, and other men stand. Along the right edge of the painting, beyond the cowherd and cows, the land dips into a wooded valley, painted in tones of pale aquamarine and ice blue. About two dozen birds of varying sizes fly over the tower and valley. White clouds float against the vibrant blue sky. The artist signed and dated the work as if written on the face of the rock near the white birds, “ROELANT SAVERŸ FE 1624.”

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A spring-fed watering trough nestled among ancient ruins high in a mountainous pass has enticed a plethora of people and animals to its refreshing water. As cattle drink and sheep rest in the surrounding glade, the area buzzes with so much activity that it is easy to overlook the insignificant-looking group of travelers passing under an archway in the background. Small in scale and depicted in subdued colors, the figures seem the least important of all those present, yet they are none other than the Holy Family on the Flight into Egypt. The three shepherds near the watering trough have doffed their caps because the mysterious light shining down on them has made them realize that they are in the presence of the Christ Child.

Savery painted this scene during an extremely productive and successful period following his move to Utrecht in 1619. The exotic character of his mountainous landscapes reflects his travels in the Alps and in Bohemia during his residence at the court of Rudolph II in Prague between 1604 and 1614, but his paintings are essentially creations of his imagination. During the 1620s Savery received major commissions from the city of Utrecht, and his paintings were collected in courts throughout Europe. Although his work at this time could no longer be called innovative, his superb skills were highly valued and enabled Savery to continue to paint in his mannerist style long after artistic trends in other centers had begun to focus on more naturalistic images of the Dutch countryside.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 44


Artwork overview

More About this Artwork


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Anthony Speelman, London);[1] Robert H. Smith, Washington, D.C., by 1988; (sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 14 January 1988, no. 86, bought in); Mr. and Mrs. Robert H. Smith, Washington, D.C.; gift 1989 to NGA.
[1] In a letter of 7 September 1993 (in NGA curatorial files), Anthony Speelman wrote to Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr.: "The only provenance that I have on the Savery is that it was bought in c. 1890 in Berne by the previous owner's family..."

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1991

  • Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1998

  • A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 54.

Bibliography

1988

  • Müllenmeister, Kurt J. Roelant Savery: Kortrijk 1576–1639 Utrecht, Hofmaler Kaiser Rudolf II, in Prag: die Gemälde mit kritischem Oeuvrekatalog. Freren, 1988: 272, no. 168a, 275, repro.

1991

  • National Gallery of Art. Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1991: 56-57, color repro.

  • Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 324, color repro.

1995

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1995: 360-363, color repro. 361.

1996

  • Gifford, E. Melanie. "Jan van Goyen en de techniek van het naturalistische landschap." In Jan van Goyen. Edited by Christiaan Vogelaar. Exh. cat. Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden. Zwolle, 1996: 70-79.

1998

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. A Collector's Cabinet. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998: 68, no. 54, repro.

Inscriptions

lower left: .ROELANT / SAVERY FE / 1624

Wikidata ID

Q20177035


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