Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Art Historical Context

**Rest on the Flight into Egypt** *Jan Sadeler I, c. 1600* Engraving on paper; plate: 18.1 × 13.3 cm Behold Jan Sadeler I's delicate engraving capturing a tender moment from the biblical Flight into Egypt, where the Holy Family pauses in their perilous journey to escape King Herod's massacre of the innocents. Created around 1600 by this Flemish master engraver from a renowned family of printmakers, the work reflects the Mannerist elegance of late 16th-century Northern Europe. Sadeler, active in Antwerp and Prague, specialized in intricate reproductive prints that brought religious narratives to a broader audience beyond grand altarpieces. Engraving's precision—lines incised into a copper plate with a burin, then inked and pressed onto paper—allowed for exceptional detail in the compact 18.1 × 13.3 cm plate. This medium revolutionized art dissemination during the Renaissance, making devotional images affordable for homes and pilgrims. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings Department, this sheet (24.6 × 16.7 cm) exemplifies how prints preserved and popularized sacred stories amid the era's religious upheavals, blending piety with artistic virtuosity. A quiet respite amid chaos, it invites reflection on protection and divine grace.

About the Artist

Jan Sadeler, I · 1550–1600

Jan Sadeler I (1550–1600) was born in Brussels and became the most prominent member of the largest and most successful dynasty of Flemish printmakers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Sadeler family — which included Jan's brothers Aegidius and Raphael — produced an extraordinary volume of engravings that circulated across Catholic Europe, disseminating images of religious subjects, p...