REMBRANDT HARMENSZOON VAN RIJN (1606 - 1669) : The Flight into Egypt: Crossing a Brook - 1654
Price: € 16 000
Etching, engraving and drypoint, 94 x 144 mm. New Hollstein 277, only state.
Impression with the vertical scratch on the Virgin's cheek still visible on early impressions, and before horizontal and diagonal scratches across the Virgin's knees and lap.
Fine impression printed on laid paper. Excellent condition; tiny trace of glue in the lower left corner; upper part of a collector's stamp in the lower margin. Thread margins all around the platemark (sheet: 98 x 148 mm).
This print illustrates the passage from the Gospel according to St. Matthew in which an angel of the Lord commands Joseph to flee with the Child to Egypt:
When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and his Mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and his Mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod (2 :14)
Rembrandt depicted the Holy Family fleeing at night, crossing a river ford, illuminated by the moon. Joseph, leaning forward, holds the donkey's bridle firmly in his right hand, while his left hand holds the long stick with which he probes the water ahead of him. The flight was hasty: the Virgin is still sleepy, and the Child she holds close to her is fast asleep. The contrasts of light and shadow accentuate the drama of the scene.
The Flight into Egypt: Crossing a Brook (NH 277) is the second of six etchings that Rembrandt devoted to the childhood of Christ in 1654: Christ Returning from the Temple with His Parents (NH 276), The Virgin and Child with the Cat and the Snake (NH 278), The Adoration of the Shepherds: with the Lamp (NH 279), The Circumcision in the Stable (NH 280), Christ seated disputing with the Doctors (NH 281). The six plates in this series are etched in the same style, with a similar drawing technique using an abundance of parallel strokes and preferring a full frontal view. Except the first plate, all other plates have the same format.