The Return from Egypt (1595–1659)
Original title: The Return from Egypt
kurzbeschreibung
Schelte Adams à Bolswert engraved 'The Return from Egypt' sometime between 1595 and 1659. The print presents the Holy Family on their journey out of Egypt. Mary, the Christ child, and Joseph with a staff occupy the middle of the image. Behind them appear a haloed figure and an open landscape.
Description
The Holy Family moves toward the right in the foreground: Mary holds the child by the hand, Joseph carries a staff. A figure with a halo rises behind them, emitting a bright ray. The sky is overcast with clouds, and the landscape beyond opens out flat. The arrangement feels balanced, the group anchored at the center, the luminous apparition providing a vertical accent. Gray tones and fine hatching run throughout.
Context
A Flemish engraver, Schelte Adams à Bolswert was best known for reproductive prints after Peter Paul Rubens. This sheet dates from the first half of the 17th century, when the Catholic Counter-Reformation spread biblical scenes for devotion. The Return from Egypt is a rare subject, often linked in artistic tradition with the Flight into Egypt.
Impact
Everyday movement and supernatural light meet in this motif, producing a calm, reverent mood. Delicate lines and a clear layout give the print a monumental stillness and invite the viewer to quiet contemplation.
Technique
A burin cut the lines into the metal plate. Hatching of varying density creates the gray tones and models drapery textures and figure contours with precision. This technique allows subtle gradations of light and shadow, as seen in the ray of light and the landscape.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)