  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.
  
  
  Title
  The Flight into Egypt
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. between 1647 and 1650
  
  Artist
  Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1617-1682
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Spanish
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  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)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Mr. and Mrs. K. T. Keller, Mr. and Mrs. Leslie H. Green and Mr. and Mrs. Robert N. Green
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  48.96
  
  
  Copyright
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