id: 130392 accession number: 1953.156 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1953.156 updated: 2023-03-20 14:14:10.693000 The Return of the Holy Family to Nazareth, c. 1627. Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594–1665). Oil on canvas; framed: 159.5 x 124 x 14.5 cm (62 13/16 x 48 13/16 x 5 11/16 in.); unframed: 134 x 99 cm (52 3/4 x 39 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of the Hanna Fund 1953.156 title: The Return of the Holy Family to Nazareth title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1627 creation date earliest: 1622 creation date latest: 1632 current location: 212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture creditline: Gift of the Hanna Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 17th century technique: oil on canvas department: European Painting and Sculpture collection: P - French 17th Century type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Nicolas Poussin (French, 1594–1665) - artist --- measurements: Framed: 159.5 x 124 x 14.5 cm (62 13/16 x 48 13/16 x 5 11/16 in.); Unframed: 134 x 99 cm (52 3/4 x 39 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Venetian Tradition opening date: 1956-11-08T05:00:00 The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957). title: In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. opening date: 1958-03-04T05:00:00 In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958). title: The Arts of Man opening date: 1962-10-04T04:00:00 The Arts of Man. The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX (organizer) (October 4-November 15, 1962). title: Poussin opening date: 1995-02-16T05:00:00 Poussin. Dulwich Picture Gallery (organizer) (February 16-April 30, 1995). title: The First Roman Years of Nicolas Poussin opening date: 1998-11-26T00:00:00 The First Roman Years of Nicolas Poussin. Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (November 26, 1998-March 1, 1999). title: The Triumph of French Painting: Seventeenth Century Masterpieces from the Museums of FRAME [FRAME] opening date: 2003-10-11T00:00:00 The Triumph of French Painting: Seventeenth Century Masterpieces from the Museums of FRAME [FRAME]. Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR (organizer) (October 11, 2003-January 4, 2004); Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL (January 25-April 11, 2004); Meadows Museum (April 30-July 25, 2004). title: Object Lessons: France in the Golden Age opening date: 2012-02-14T00:00:00 Object Lessons: France in the Golden Age. Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, CA (organizer) (February 14-June 3, 2012). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * The Art Institute of Chicago, July 15-August 31, 1954: "Masterpieces of Religious Painting in collaboration with the World Council of Churches," cat. no. 33, repr. p. 32. * CMA, 1956: "The Venetian Tradition," cat. no. 30, repr. (Catalogue by Henry S Francis). * Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art January 4-February 2, 1959: "Paintings and Drawings by Nicolas Poussin in American Museums," cat. p. 26, repr. fig. 14 (color) Minneapolis Isnitute of Art, February 11-March 10, 1959. * Paris 1960, no. 52. * Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, October 4-November 15, 1962: "The Arts of Man," cat. no. 58, repr. p. 49. * Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum, September 24-November 27, 1988: Poussin. The Early Years in Rome," * Rome, Italy; Comune di Roma-Palazzo delle Esposizioni, 11/26/98 - 3/1/99 "The first Roman Years of Nicolas Poussin" (I primi anni romani.) Exhibition catalog no. 15, p. 66. * Portland Art Museum, OR (10/11/2003 - 1/4/2004), Birmingham Museum of Art (1/25/2004 - 4/11/2004) and Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas (5/2/2004 - 7/25/2004): "The Triumph of French Painting: 17th Century Masterpieces from the Museums of FRAME", p. 94-95. --- PROVENANCE The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio date: 1953- footnotes: citations: (Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: 1953 footnotes: citations: Frederick Mont and Newhouse Galleries, New York, NY, sold to Rosenberg and Stiebel)1 date: 1952-1953 footnotes: *
1Mont was chosen by the Prince of Liechtenstein as sole agent for the sale of works from his collection. 
citations: Princes of Liechtenstein, Vienna, and later, Vaduz1 date: By 1733-1952 footnotes: *
1The Liechtenstein seal in the lower right hand corner of the painting bears the date 1733 – the year the painting was first recorded in the Liechtenstein collection. 


* citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: When King Herod learned that he would lose his throne to a child born in Bethlehem, he ordered all male infants to be massacred. Mary and Joseph thus fled to Egypt to protect their son, Jesus. The age of the boy in this painting suggests that Poussin depicted the less-common subject of the Holy Family’s return from Egypt. Jesus reaches toward a vision of a cross borne by angels, a reference to both his eventual crucifixion and Herod’s cruel slaughter of innocent children. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Sept. 19, 2013, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 26, 2013, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: page number: url: page number: url: page number: url: Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Sept. 19, 2013, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url: Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 26, 2013, in CMA curatorial file page number: url: Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Sept. 19, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.

page number: url: Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 26, 2013, in CMA curatorial file. page number: url:
Dr. Reinhold Baumstark, letter to Ann Tzeutschler Lurie, Nov. 28, 1977, in CMA curatorial file.

page number: url: Thuillier, Jacques. L'opera completa di Poussin. Milano: Rizzoli, 1974. page number: url: Wright, Christopher. Poussin, Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1985. page number: url: Falke, J. Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinischen Bildergallerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien. Wien: Miethke & Wawra, 1873. page number: url: Descrizzione completa di tutto cio che ritrovasi nella galleria di pittura e scultura di sua altezza Giuseppe Wenceslao ... principe regnante della casa di Lichtenstein. 1767. page number: url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 478 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n88 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 116 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n140 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. page number: Mentioned: p. 121-124; Reproduced: p. 122 url: Albl, Stefan, and Pietro Testa. Pietro Testa: Maler in Rom und Lucca (1612-1650). 2021. page number: Mentioned: p. 253 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.156/1953.156_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.156/1953.156_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1953.156/1953.156_full.tif