The Flight into Egypt
Artist
Joos van Cleve
(South Netherlandish, ca. 1485 - 1540/41)
Dateca.1520
Object number58.0045
Mediumoil on panel
Dimensions25 7/16 × 17 1/2 in. (64.6 × 44.5 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineMuseo de Arte de Ponce. The Luis A. Ferré Foundation, Inc.
Collections
On View
Not on viewDescriptionPainted with almost photographic precision, this fantastic landscape is crammed with symbolic references to Christ’s divinity. The broken bronze statue alludes to the legend in which Christ, upon entering Egypt, caused pagan idols to collapse to the ground. A conspicuously placed tree foreshadows Christ’s Crucifixion and suggests how the dead wood of the Cross would be transformed into the tree of eternal life through his sacrifice. Even the beautiful pool in the right foreground recalls the cleansing waters of baptism.
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