Existing comment:
Denys Van Alsloot
The Flight into Egypt, 17th century
Flemish landscapes of the late 1500s and early 1600s were often used as vehicles for representing grander religious or mythological themes. Here, the Holy Family (Joseph, the Virgin, and the Christ Child) escapes to Egypt to avoid the Massacre of the Innocents (King Herod's attempt to kill the Messiah by slaughtering all male children under the age of two).
This painting continues the 16th-century tradition of representing religious subjects in settings that reflect local and Northern European surroundings rather than topographically and historically "correct" Middle Eastern landscapes. Eventually, many landscape artists would abandon such narrative subjects altogether in favor of a more naturalistic approach to both style and subject matter. |