The Flight into Egypt 1700 - 1737

Curator: Look at this silvery escape. Here we have "The Flight into Egypt," a drawing, perhaps intended as a print, by François Le Moyne, dating from somewhere around 1700 to 1737. Editor: My immediate sense is that the limited range of tones—mostly blues and greys—creates an atmosphere of somber fragility. It's as if this moment of flight is caught between waking and a dream. What draws you to it? Curator: Oh, I think Le Moyne masterfully captures the vulnerability of the Holy Family as they flee into the unknown. It makes you wonder, you know? What sort of charcoal or chalk did he grab? Who was grinding down these pigments, blending them with a binder? There’s something holy in those humble gestures, you know? Editor: Exactly! It’s important to remember that art isn't conjured from thin air; the materials themselves carry history, embedded with economic and social conditions that we forget at our peril. That blue paper would have been more expensive to produce...it signals that this wasn't simply a casual sketch. Curator: Absolutely! Le Moyne’s Baroque sensibilities blend history with landscape, so everything here supports the emotion—the crumbling architecture seems to echo the fragility and anxiety of the moment, don't you think? Editor: Yes. And those ruins aren't just atmospheric; they’re the backdrop against which this human drama is played out. Think about it. Stone endures, empires rise and fall—while the everyday human being searches for refuge from political and religious persecution... Curator: So true. A print such as this would find its way to hands both rich and humble. But if we really reflect on it, the story and art reminds us to bring more refuge and comfort to our current moment and human struggles, right here and now. Editor: Agreed. Thinking of the labor and commerce that made this image—then juxtaposing that with this iconic scene of refugees... it makes you reflect on the labor conditions of manufacturing and distribution networks then, and their link to displaced people today.