The Holy Family Passing a Statue

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The Holy Family Passing a Statue

c. 1752

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Italian (active Venice, Würzburg, and Madrid) 1727–1804) Dedicated to Prince-Bishop Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau of Würzburg (German, 1690–1754)

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo worked on the plates for his series of twenty-four etchings on the theme of the Flight into Egypt while he and his father, Giovanni Battista, were executing frescoes for the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg. Dedicated to the Prince-Bishop, the series of etchings displays Giovanni Domenico's facility for inventive compositions and variations on a single theme. Here the Holy Family passes by a pagan statue, which begins to crumble in the presence of the infant Christ. The head of the statue falls through the air, about to crash to the ground at lower left.

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Object Details

Titles:

The Holy Family Passing a Statue
From the series Idée Pittoresche sopra La Fugga in Egitto (Würzburg: Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, 1753)

Date:

c. 1752

Artists:

Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (Italian (active Venice, Würzburg, and Madrid) 1727–1804) Dedicated to Prince-Bishop Carl Philipp von Greiffenklau of Würzburg (German, 1690–1754)

Medium:

Etching

Dimensions:

Plate: 7 7/16 x 9 5/8 inches (18.9 x 24.4 cm) Sheet: 7 9/16 x 9 3/4 inches (19.2 x 24.7 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

The Muriel and Philip Berman Gift, acquired from the John S. Phillips bequest of 1876 to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with funds contributed by Muriel and Philip Berman, gifts (by exchange) of Lisa Norris Elkins, Bryant W. Langston, Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White, with additional funds contributed by John Howard McFadden, Jr., Thomas Skelton Harrison, and the Philip H. and A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation, 1985

Accession Number:

1985-52-1630

Geography:

Made in Venice, Italy, Europe

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Currently not on view