The Flight into Egypt

The painter Lucas Gassel left behind a small, but well-documented oeuvre. This apparently peaceful scene is easily identified as the not very peaceable biblical story of the Flight into Egypt. Joseph is leading Mary and her infant away from the village in the background, where soldiers are tearing new-born babies away from their mothers and slaughtering them at an open spot.

Sixteenth-century painters often took a biblical theme in order to indulge in painting a landscape. Van Gassel opts for an anecdotal approach, but links the biblical story to later legends through one continuous depiction in a Flemish landscape. The panoramic view from the hill enables the viewer to experience the various events all at the same time. Here, Van Gassel uses a type of landscape that was very popular in the sixteenth century and is now called a ‘coulisse’ landscape. The painting technique that was customary at the time is clearly visible. Artists usually painted on a panel prepared with a light ground, on which they drew in black ink or chalk. This underdrawing was then painted in. Some of the green passages on this painting have become transparent, so that the underdrawing is visible once again.