The Flight into Egypt
Bernardino Jacobi Butinone
1480–1490
- Medium
- Tempera on panel
- Dimensions
- 25.6 × 22 cm (10 1/8 × 8 11/16 in.); Framed: 30.8 × 26.7 × 5.1 cm (12 1/8 × 10 1/2 × 2 in.)
- Genre
- tempera
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
painting15th centurypaintChicago World's FairsJesusCentury of ProgressVirgin and child/Madonna and childpanel paintingpainting (image making)painting techniquesItalianrest on the flight into egyptSaintsholy familyRenaissancewood (plant material)landscapeworld's fairsAngelsorganic materialpoplar (wood)treespanel (wood)european paintingtemperapaths
About
This panel and it’s companion, The Descent from the Cross, were originally part of a series of scenes from the life of Jesus that constitute Bernardino Butinone’s best-known works. The first painting depicts the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt as part of Mary and Joseph’s attempt to protect the newborn Jesus from being murdered by King Herod, who viewed the divine child as a threat to his power. The second painting shows Jesus’s body being lowered from the cross into the arms of his grieving mother and followers. Born in Treviglio in Lombardy in Northern Italy, Butinone worked primarily for patrons in and around Milan. His distinctive, eccentric style is characterized by expressive figures and highly imaginative descriptions of landscape settings.
