Alonso del Arco

ALONSO DEL ARCO (Madrid, 1635 - 1704).
"The flight to Egypt".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
It has frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 105 x 163 cm; 119 x 180 cm (frame).
This scene is developed in an idealized landscape in half-light, where the monumental figures of the protagonists stand out; Joseph, who guides the mule on which the Virgin is seated, who holds her son in her arms. The Family is followed by two angels who seem to escort their way and by three cherubs, located in a heavenly area, carrying grapes and the palm of martyrdom, thus anticipating the destiny of the little Jesus. A composition very similar to that seen in a painting by Alonso del Arco that belongs to the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection. It is the darkness that bathes the scene that emphasizes the sense of flight as a theme and confronts the viewer with a scene in which he becomes an accomplice. The flight to Egypt is an episode from the Gospel of Matthew, often used in art to identify the Holy Family with those disadvantaged by emigration and political repression. The New Testament story, very brief and typical of the Gospel of Matthew, tells how an angel appears in a dream to St. Joseph and tells him that he must flee to Egypt with Mary and the Child, because King Herod was looking for him to kill him. Joseph obeys, and after a while he is ordered to return, in a similar manner. The evangelist himself sees in the episode the fulfillment of an Old Testament prophecy: "out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1). In the apocryphal Gospels and in the later Christian tradition, this episode will be expanded with a multitude of anecdotes and miracles that occurred during the journey, among which we find the rest during the flight to Egypt, an obligatory pause for the Virgin to breastfeed the Child.
Alonso del Arco was a painter from Madrid in the late seventeenth century, a disciple of Antonio de Pereda and deaf from birth, so he was known as "el sordillo de Pereda". Although he began painting in a style very close to that of his master, he soon distanced himself, evolving towards more advanced Baroque forms. Palomino highlighted his gifts as a portraitist, mentioning the series of generals of the Orders of San Juan de Dios and the Merced Calzada, although few portraits by his hand have been preserved to this day. Nevertheless, in his religious works one can appreciate this facility for portraiture, as we can see in the busts of saints in ovals that occupy the intrados of the altar arch of San Felipe Neri in the Trinitarias Descalzas in Madrid, one of his most important works. Likewise, in 1679 he collaborated with Claudio Coello, José Jiménez Donoso and Matías de Torres, among others, in the ephemeral decorations for the entrance into Madrid of María Luisa de Orleans, despite all this, his main theme was religious, which he cultivated for temples in Madrid, Toledo and Valladolid. He used Flemish engravings as a base for many of his compositions, something that was criticized by Palomino himself, but which helped Alonso del Arco to work faster and at a lower cost.works by his hand are currently preserved in the Prado Museum, the Santa Cruz Museum in Toledo, the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid, the Fine Arts Museum of Asturias and other public and private collections.