The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
The Donkey Led to the River
c. 1652–54
(Dutch, c. 1600–1655)
Catalogue raisonné: Hollstein vol. XXIX, page 54, no. 8
Location: Not on view
Description
This series by Herman Swanevelt, The Flight into Egypt, illustrates an event from the New Testament of the Bible. Joseph, Mary, and Christ fled into Egypt to escape King Herod's persecution. Traditionally represented as a single image, Swanevelt enlarged the story into four scenes. The Holy family is first shown traveling with three angels behind them, then Joseph helps Mary off the donkey, next Joseph leads the donkey to water as Mary changes the child, and finally the family is at rest. However, the main focus of each of these prints is the depiction of landscape, a genre that reached unprecedented levels of popularity during the 1600s. The scenery, looking much more like the Italian countryside than Egypt, was inspired by Swanevelt's paintings. Although he was Dutch, he spent most of his career in Paris and Rome. As a painter, he was known for his ability to convey warm, glowing sunlight, a quality also found in his etchings.- CMA 1996: Sets and Series: Five Centuries of Master Prints, February 20-May 5, 1996, no cat.Seventeenth Century Netherlandish Graphics. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 27-August 1, 1982).
- {{cite web|title=The Donkey Led to the River|url=false|author=Herman van Swanevelt|year=c. 1652–54|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.92.3