The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (with a Truncated Pyramid on the Right)
Jesus turned to the palm and said, "This privilege I give you, O palm tree, that one of your branches be carried away by angels, and planted in the paradise of my Father. . . . And while he was speaking, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and stood upon the palm tree and, taking off one of its branches, flew to heaven with the branch in his hand. —Liber de Infantia Salvatoris, 21
Amid winged angels and a characteristic donkey, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child rest on the flight into Egypt. Escaping persecution and the infanticide decreed by King Herod, the Holy Family pauses briefly between the celebrated palm tree and a truncated pyramid. Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo builds his moving, magisterial drawing using a graded range of tonal washes in combination with areas of untouched paper that suggest volume and illumination.
Amid winged angels and a characteristic donkey, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child rest on the flight into Egypt. Escaping persecution and the infanticide decreed by King Herod, the Holy Family pauses briefly between the celebrated palm tree and a truncated pyramid. Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo builds his moving, magisterial drawing using a graded range of tonal washes in combination with areas of untouched paper that suggest volume and illumination.
Artwork Details
- Title: The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (with a Truncated Pyramid on the Right)
- Artist: Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Italian, Venice 1727–1804 Venice)
- Date: ca. 1770
- Medium: Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over rough black chalk
- Dimensions: 18 1/2 x 14 15/16 in. (47 x 37.9 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
- Object Number: 1975.1.474
- Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection
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