Joseph Relays to Mary God's Command to Flee
1753
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1753
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Joseph Relays to Mary God's Command to Flee is a 1753 ink by Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This black-and-white print shows a tense scene inside a dim room. On the left, a woman sits holding a child, looking worried. Behind her, an angel floats, pointing upward. On the right, a man in robes gestures toward her, his face urgent. The room has heavy curtains and a window with bars. The woman on the floor clutches something, while the seated woman’s posture suggests she’s listening hard. The artist used shading to show drama in simple lines—notice how the angel’s wings and the man’s robes catch light. This print was made as an etching, a technique that lets artists carve fine details into metal plates. Look up etching to see how artists like Tiepolo created these sharp, expressive lines.
