The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

The Flight into Egypt

c. 1503–5

Albrecht Dürer

(German, 1471–1528)
Germany, early 16th Century
woodcut
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1959.99.14
Catalogue raisonné: Meder 201 c
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The dense forest setting of the Flight into Egypt includes tropical trees and lizards.

Description

Although Dürer’s woodcut depicts a later event in the biblical narrative, the composition is similar to the scene from the Mirror of Holiness, "Mary and Joseph Travel to Bethlehem" CMA 2005.145.24.b—even to the inclusion of an ox. Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus fled Jerusalem for Egypt after Joseph was warned in a dream that Jesus’s life was in danger. The dense, dark forest through which the Holy Family travels seems to close threateningly around them. While the Indian artist envisioned a “pack beast” as a camel, Dürer invented a Middle Eastern landscape by incorporating a palm tree and other curious vegetation.
  • ?–1959
    (William H. Schab Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1959–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Dürer, Albrecht. The Life of the Virgin. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1959. Reproduced: p. 14; Plate XIV archive.org
  • Prince Salim's Life of Christ (Manuscript Rotation) - Gallery 115. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (December 2, 2019-July 1, 2020).
    Dürer's Women: Images of Devotion and Desire. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 22-September 28, 2014).
    Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
    Sets and Series: Five Centuries of Master Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 20-May 5, 1996). no cat.
    From Block Books to Baskin: Artists as Illustrators. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 13-August 17, 1986).
    Eight Masters of the Print. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 14, 1980-January 18, 1981).
    Durer. Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (organizer) (April 6-May 8, 1971).
    Albrecht Dürer - 500th Anniversary. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 19-March 28, 1971).
  • {{cite web|title=The Flight into Egypt|url=false|author=Albrecht Dürer|year=c. 1503–5|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1959.99.14