The rest on the run (Runge)
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| The rest on the run |
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| Philipp Otto Runge , 1805–1808 |
| Oil on canvas |
| 96.5 × 129.5 cm |
| Hamburger Kunsthalle |
The rest on the flight is one of the two great religious paintings by the German painter Philipp Otto Runge ; it is located in the Kunsthalle Hamburg .
instigation
When it was planned in 1805 to have an altarpiece made for the Marienkirche in Greifswald , the local professor Quistorp tried to get Runge to do this. In May of that year, Runge sent a first draft to Karl Schildener in Greifswald, and in autumn began to work on the painting without commission. Negotiations with Greifswald were broken off as a result of the war. Runge left the painting in Hamburg when he went to Wolgast with his family . In the spring of 1808 he sent a preliminary drawing to Goethe with the remark that the picture was underlined. Since the picture today does not appear to be a mere background, Runge must have continued to work on it afterwards. However, it remained unfinished.
description
The motif of the "flight into Egypt" goes back to the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 2.13 EU ). It can be seen in Christian iconography since the high Middle Ages, as a vivid example of the protective hand of God.
Runge developed this motif further. With him everything concentrates on the child who "plays out of the shadow in the first ray of sun", as he writes to Schildener. He writes to Goethe: “Maria and Joseph rested the night with the child on the slope of a mountain, the first ray of sunlight falls over the group and the child reaches in with his hand. The shadow still lies in the valley, and the light only plays on the topmost peaks. A large tulip tree spreads out over it, and three angels play music towards the light. Joseph and the donkey are in the shade. He knocks out the fire that burned during the night. "
literature
- Frank Büttner : Philipp Otto Runge . C., H. Beck, Munich 2010. ISBN 978-3-406-60092-0 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Letter of April 19, 1808. In: Hellmuth von Maltzahn (ed.): Philipp Otto Runge's correspondence with Goethe . Goethe Society, Weimar 1940, p. 87.