Rest on the Flight into Egypt c. 1506 - 1538

Albrecht Altdorfer made this small print, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, in the early sixteenth century using woodcut. Here, the Holy Family pauses during their journey to escape King Herod's decree. The image creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations, reflecting Altdorfer's origins in the German Renaissance. The setting is not the desert of the biblical story, but a landscape resembling the forests and mountains of Bavaria. Look at the architecture in the background; it is clearly Central European. Altdorfer was deeply interested in the natural world and how it connects to the divine. He was part of a tradition of landscape painting in Germany that emphasized the spiritual qualities of nature. To understand this artwork better, one could research the cultural and religious context of sixteenth-century Germany, the history of landscape painting, and the artist's biography. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.