The Flight into Egypt

About the Artwork

In this composition, Gregorio Pagani remained close to the New Testament account of the final episode of Christ’s nativity (Matthew 2:13–23), in which Joseph, Mary, and infant Jesus fled into Egypt after learning that King Herod intended to kill all the male infants of Jerusalem. Staff in hand, Joseph forges ahead while Mary and Jesus follow behind on a donkey. Fluttering angels hover above; one at the left urges the Holy Family onward. Pagani was commissioned by the Médicis to create decorative schemes for their celebrations, and especially for altarpieces for churches and convents, but few of his paintings have survived. He is best known for highly finished, fully realized drawings such as this example in pristine condition.

Inscriptions

Inscribed, upper left, "i. . .", and numbered, upper right, 52 inscribed in brown ink, "verso, Di mano del Bamberucci denetri (?) da lui" and "pagani" (?)

Exhibition history

Recent Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 17-June 7, 2018).

Quick Overview

Artist: Gregorio Pagani (Italian, 1558–1605)
Date: c. 1590
Medium: pen and brown ink and wash, heightened with white, over black chalk, on beige paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 39.9 x 25 cm (15 11/16 x 9 13/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
Accession no.: 2015.67

Provenance

P. & D. Colnaghi, London, 1995; Private collection, New York, until 2015

More by Gregorio Pagani in museum collections

The Head and Shoulders of a Woman in Profile; Separate Studies of Her Head and Ear (recto); Fragment of Drapery Study, Profile of Architectural Molding (verso)
Gregorio Pagani
1592 · Drawing
Museum collection · via the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAT-00022267
Holy Family with the Infant St. John the Baptist (recto); large-scale cropped sketches of draperies and legs (verso)
Gregorio Pagani
1590–92 · Drawing
Museum collection · via the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAT-00024395

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.