About the Artwork
Shortly after the birth of Jesus, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him that King Herod intended to find and kill the baby. This painting by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo depicts the family’s flight from danger toward the safety of Egypt via the coastal road known as the “way of the sea.” The artist’s decision to represent Mary and Joseph as life-size, highly realistic figures infuses this biblical story with humanity and a sense of urgency. They appear to be ordinary parents: Mary casts a watchful expression toward the sleeping child in her arms, while Joseph is an everyman, his concerned expression reflecting his natural desire to protect his family. Such an approach was typical of Murillo. Known for his accessible style, he became Seville’s leading painter in the second half of the seventeenth century.
The Flight into Egypt
ca. between 1647 and 1650
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
1617-1682
Spanish
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 82 1/2 × 65 1/2 inches (209.6 × 166.4 cm) Framed: 125 × 87 × 6 inches (3 m 17.5 cm × 221 cm × 15.2 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. K. T. Keller, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie H. Green and Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Green
48.96
Public Domain
Markings
Signed, on rock, right foreground: Bme Murillo f.
Provenance
Sir William Chapman, Bt. [1670?-1737];sold Sir William Chapman collection (London, England) lot 56;
Sir James Mendez (Mitchem, Surrey, England);
February 25-26, 1756, sold Mendez collection (Langford, England)
purchased by Samson Gideon [1699-1765];
1766, by descent to his son, Sir Sampson Gideon [later Lord Eardley] (Belvedere, Erith, Kent, England);
by inheritance to his daughter, Maria Marow [later married Lord Saye and Sele];
by inheritance to her son, Lord Saye and Sele [d. 1848];
1848, by inheritance to Sir Culling Eardley;
1871, by descent to his daughter, Mrs. Culling Hanbury (Hanbury, Bedwell Park, Hertfordshire, England);
1938, by descent to Sir Francis Fremantle (Bedwell Park, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England);
by descent to James Fremantle;
December 14, 1945, sold by (Christie's, London, England) action estate of Sir Francis Fremantle, lot 27;
1945-at least 1947, purchased by Maurice Harris (London, England);
sold by (French & Company, New York, New York, USA);
1948-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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London and Its Environs Described, vol. 1. London, 1761, p. 9.
Martyn, T. The English Connoisseur. London, 1766, vol. 1, p. 14.
Pictures of Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch Schools with which the Proprietors have Favored the Institution. Exh. cat., British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. London, 1822, no. 125.
Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters with which the Proprietors have Favored the Institution. Exh. cat., British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. London, 1845, cat. 50.
Art Treasures of the United Kingdom. Exh. cat. Manchester, 1857, cat. 643.
Waagen, G. Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain. Supplement to Treasures of Art in Great Britain. London, 1857, p. 276.
Bürger, W. Trésors d'art en Angleterre. Paris, 1860, p. 129.
Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French and English Masters. Exh. cat., British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom. London, 1862, no. 16.
Winter Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Art. London, 1871, cat. 128.
Curtis, C.B. Velázquez and Murillo. London and New York, 1883, no. 127. [as Murillo.]
Winter Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Art. London, 1902, cat. 93.
Seventeenth Century Art in Europe. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1938, p. 70, cat. 229.
Richardson, E.P. "Murillo's Flight into Egypt." Bulletin of the DIA 27, no. 4 (1948): pp. 78-80 (ill.).
Green, Leslie H. and Robert N. "A Gift to the Museum from K.T. Keller." Bulletin of the DIA 27, no. 4 (1948): pp. 78-80 (cover ill).
"Acquisitions, Detroit." Pallas 12, no. 12 (1948): p. 134.
"Detroit Given a Murillo." College Art Journal 8, no. 1 (1948): pp. 47-48.
Richardson, E.P. "Recent Acquisitions: Murillo's Flight Into Egypt." Art Quarterly 11, no. 4 (1948): pp. 363-367 (ill.).
"Recent Acquisitions." Pictures on Exhibit 2, no. 1 (1948): pp. 49-50.
"A Famous Murillo Comes to Detroit." Art News 47, no. 5 (1948): p. 34 (ill.).
Masterpieces of Painting and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1949, p. 172.
Dutton, D. Christie's Since the War, 1945-1958. London, 1958, pp. 21, 84, no 7.
Braham, A. "The Early Style of Murillo." Burlington Magazine 107 no. 750 (1965): p. 451 (fig. 6).
Cummings, Frederick J. and Charles H. Elam, eds. The Detroit Institute of Arts Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 112.
Gaya Nuño, J.A. L'opera pittorica completa di Murillo. Milan, 1972, no. 23.
Cummings, Frederick J., ed. Selected Works from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1979, pp. 68, 70, no. XXIV (ill.).
Young, E. Bartolomé Murillo Werkverzeichnis. Frankfurt, 1980, p. 16, no. 23.
Angulo Iñiguez, D. Murillo, su vida, su arte, su obra. Madrid, 1981 vol. 1, p. 246; vol. 2, pp. 208-9, no. 230; vol. 3, pl. 46.
Brown, M. "Anglo-Jewish Country Houses from the Resettlement to 1800." Transactions of the Jewish Historical Society of England 28, 1981, pp. 20-38, no. 15.
"New Trends." Apollo (December 1982: p. 367 (fig. 22).
Painting in Spain 1650-1700. Exh. cat., Princeton University Art Museum and Detroit Institute of Arts. Princeton and Detroit, 1982, p. 87, no. 25.
"Ausstellungen." Art das Kunstmagazin, no. 10 (1982): p. 128 (ill.).
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo 1617-1682. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts and Museo del Prado. London and Madrid, 1982, p. 118, cat. 7 (ill.).
Mallory, N.A. "Murillo in Madrid and London." Art Journal 43, no. 3, p. 272 (ill.).
Suárez, F. Joseph of Nazareth. London and New Rochelle, NY, 1984, cover ill. [as Murillo.]
Lehmann, J.M. "Ein umstrittenes Fruhwerk Murillos." Pantheon 44 (1986): p. 40 (fig. 8).
Las doce tribus de Israel: Jacob y sus hijos. Exh. cat., Museo del Prado. Madrid, 1995, no. 37.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682) Paintings from American Collections. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum and Los Angeles Art Museum. Fort Worth and Los Angeles, 2002, pp. 116-117, cat. 3 (ill.).
El joven Murillo. Exh. cat., Museo de Bellas Artes and Museo de Bellas Artes. Bilbao and Seville, 2009, pp. 28, 181, 278–281 (ill.), 543–544, cat. 18.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Flight into Egypt, ca. between 1647 and 1650, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. K. T. Keller, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie H. Green and Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Green, 48.96.
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