The Rest on the Flight into Egypt (with a Truncated Pyramid on the Right)

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

ca. 1770 · Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over rough black chalk · Robert Lehman Collection

Jesus turned to the palm and said, "This privilege I give you, O palm tree, that one of your branches be carried away by angels, and planted in the paradise of my Father. . . . And while he was speaking, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and stood upon the palm tree and, taking off one of its branches, flew to heaven with the branch in his hand. —Liber de Infantia Salvatoris, 21 Amid winged angels and a characteristic donkey, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and the Christ Child rest on the flight into Egypt. Escaping persecution and the infanticide decreed by King Herod, the Holy Family pauses briefly between the celebrated palm tree and a truncated pyramid. Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo builds his moving, magisterial drawing using a graded range of tonal washes in combination with areas of untouched paper that suggest volume and illumination.

Artist

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo

Date

ca. 1770

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over rough black chalk

Department

Robert Lehman Collection

Credit line

Robert Lehman Collection, 1975