Battista Dossi's Flight into Egypt: Renaissance Narrative and Color

In his painting Flight into Egypt, Battista Dossi took great care to tell the story of the Holy Family at the very moment the painting shows. He evokes the urgency in the life of the traveling Holy Family as they flee for the life of their child. All that needs to be said in the painting is told with color and precision, movement and depth, and an entirely personal glimpse into the lives of the Holy Family. Battista's work is at once compelling and evocative of the situation.

The work entitled Flight into Egypt is oil on panel by the Ferrarese artist Battista Dossi (circa 1490 to 1548), who was the younger brother of Dosso Dossi. The brothers were the primary painters in the court of Ferrara under Alfonso I d'Este and Ercole II d'Este. Unfortunately, most of the documented work the brothers did for the court was lost to time as it was ephemeral in nature. That is to say, the brothers painted frescoes for local residences, made designs for tapestries and theatre sets, and painted decorations for festivals, banners, and tableware—even coins. Their work included the decoration of barges and carriages.

Happily, a fairly substantial number of easel paintings created by the brothers were preserved. Many of these works commissioned by the courts were of mythological or allegorical subjects, a fact that points to the intellectual and cultural interests of the members of the Ferrarese court. The Dosso brothers were considered to be highly original painters for their time, but some art historians point to Raphael in Rome and Giorgione in Venice as contemporary influences.

Another version of the work exists that is nearly identical to this one, with only minor differences in the foreground and the placement of tree stumps on the path to the right. Both works are considered to have been painted by Battista at different times. The two brothers are believed to have occasionally collaborated on their art, but art historians are focused on learning more about Battista's development as an independent artist. The figure of the Madonna is considered to be of Battista's type of model, and the lines of the draperies are also typical of Battista, the younger of the two brothers.

Dosso's work is characterized by an appreciation for the effect of glowing color, light and shadow, as well as for the poetic qualities with which his landscapes are imbued. The rendering of the beautiful panoramic landscape on the right in the painting is a somewhat fanciful vista, yet has the craggy rocks that are characteristic of Battista's oeuvre. Some art historians consider the rocky renderings to be the younger brother's main contribution to the works coming out of Dosso's shop.

The colors and shading appear to have been inspired by Flemish chromatic recession. There is movement from brown to green to blue, and then upwards and deeply toward the white horizon. The yellow-green, almost acidic color of the landscape is considered to be typical of Ferrarese painting. It is a northern landscape similar to that seen in Battista's Martyrdom of Saint Stephen (Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid) from circa 1530–35. Battista's painting of Flight from Egypt is dated circa 1535. The feeling of receding background is created by parallel strata, which are also established by the dominant colors as described above.

The comparison piece is the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Donors and Saints Dominic and Elizabeth of Hungary by Lippo Vanni. The work is Gothic from the Middle Ages and depicts the subject of the Madonna and Child, which was exceedingly common in Western art. It is a devotional work that shows the stylistic innovations seen in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Paintings on panels, canvas, and frescoes of the Madonna and her child Jesus are the dominant icons of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The subject of the Madonna and Child is so common that most renowned artists—whether painters or sculptors—during the Gothic and Renaissance periods created their own version.

The painting by Lippo Vanni, who was a leading illuminator in Siena in the middle of the fifteenth century, is tempera on wood. The three panels of the triptych depict the Madonna and Child on the throne with donors along with Saints Dominic holding lilies and Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, whose apron holds roses. Vanni's colors are intense and the lines are clear demarcations of the spaces. The center panel of the triptych is the most significant of the three in Gothic art, and generally in most other art. Mary wears a black robe in the painting, and her hand holds the baby Jesus. The back of the throne gives a certain perception of depth in an otherwise flat painting. The donors are seen kneeling on the floor by the throne of Elizabeth and her son, Prince Andreas of the French house of Anjou, who wears a cap and robe covered with fleur-de-lis.

Although the subjects in Vanni's painting and Battista's paintings are similar, the stylistic difference establishes them as centuries and worlds apart. The Gothic style is stiff, flat, and lifeless in a way. It is difficult to imagine the Gothic figures as real, flesh and blood people, while Battista's rendering of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus are compellingly real. Battista's figures move across the painting like actors on a stage: they are going somewhere, and the viewer is even able to see their destination in the painting. Mary's arm is extended toward her baby and Joseph, as though she cannot bear not holding him in her arms as they travel. She is also pointing forward into the future for the viewer, willing an understanding of the jeopardy that the family is moving toward.

The two paintings illustrate the enormous changes in art across the passing of several centuries. It is not merely a matter of better pigments or better materials on which to paint. The concepts of representation changed markedly. The Gothic work seems more a part of the lettering it might have represented on the pages of religious tomes, while the Renaissance work could decidedly function as an illustration of the written work. But it is so much more as it tells a story rather than just showing an image of people. The Gothic triptych is not far removed from the images that were created for the outsides of coffins and mausoleums, or set in the floors of castles and churches where people were buried or entombed.

Vanni's work serves to identify important people—to preserve their importance in a devotional work that will serve as a placeholder in some official capacity. Battista's work also functions as an identifying work—as the viewer is intended to know who the characters are. "Characters" is the operative word, since the people in Battista's painting are caught up in a story as the actors, the doers, the subjects of the story.