The Flight into Egypt

The Flight into Egypt by Albrecht Dürer is a significant German Renaissance woodcut dating to 1504. Created during the dynamic period of 1501 to 1550, this print exemplifies Dürer's highly sophisticated and technical approach to graphic arts. Unlike traditional line engravings, the woodcut medium requires the artist or block-cutter to remove the negative space from a wooden plank, leaving the design raised for inking. Dürer’s skill elevated the quality and complexity of the woodcut, pushing it beyond its previous limits as a merely popular or illustrative form into the realm of high art.

The subject, The Flight into Egypt, is drawn from the biblical account, depicting the Holy Family journeying through a demanding, forested landscape to escape the Massacre of the Innocents ordered by King Herod. Dürer’s innovative graphic style, characterized by detailed cross-hatching and complex tonal relationships, gave this medium the dramatic depth and atmospheric quality often reserved for painting. As a key figure in the German Renaissance, Dürer utilized the reproducibility and wide dissemination power of prints to bring sophisticated narrative art to a broader European audience, establishing a new standard for printmaking that influenced generations of subsequent artists.

This particular impression of the work is preserved within the prestigious collection of the National Gallery of Art. The technical mastery demonstrated in Dürer’s prints from the early 16th century firmly established his legacy as one of the greatest graphic artists of the era 1501 to 1550. Due to its age and historical importance, this masterwork is often treated as a valuable resource within the public domain, allowing students and scholars to study Dürer’s precise technique and dramatic composition in depth.