The Flight into Egypt
by CARPACCIO, Vittore, Tempera on wood, 72 x 111 cm
The sense of danger and urgency is subordinated, as often in Renaissance painting, to the charme of incidental detail. The artist shows a clear debt to Giovanni Bellini, one of the leading Venetian painters. Note that the landscape, which traditionally had always been an accessory to figure groups, in this case dominates the composition and determines the mood and character of the whole.