Flight to Egypt

Art Historical Context

Rodolphe Bresdin’s “Flight to Egypt” is a small yet richly detailed pen-and-black-ink drawing on card, measuring just 3 9/16 by 5 3/8 inches. Created on an unknown date, the work belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints and entered the collection as a 1965 gift. Its intimate scale and embossed border encourage viewers to linger over the fine, precise lines that populate the scene with men, women, boys, skeletons, and trees. Although the title recalls the biblical flight of the Holy Family, Bresdin’s inclusion of skeletal figures introduces a striking, almost surreal note. The artist was celebrated for his meticulous draftsmanship and imaginative vision, qualities that turn a traditional religious subject into a layered meditation on journey, mortality, and refuge. The compact format heightens the intensity of the linear textures, inviting close looking that rewards patient observation. As a drawing rather than a finished print, the piece offers a rare glimpse into Bresdin’s working process. Its presence in the museum’s holdings underscores the enduring appeal of 19th-century works on paper that blend narrative tradition with personal fantasy.

About the Artist

Rodolphe Bresdin · 1822–1885

Rodolphe Bresdin (1822–1885) was a visionary French draughtsman, engraver, and lithographer whose fantastical imagery captured the empathy of rural poverty and the wild exuberance of the imagination. Born on August 12, 1822, in Montrelais near Le Fresne-sur-Loire in Brittany, he grew up in the Breton countryside amid its bardic folklore traditions before a family dispute left him homeless in Paris...