Italian Master; first third of the XVII century.

Italian Master; first third of the XVII century.
"Rest of the flight Egypt".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents restorations and has frame of the nineteenth century.
Measurements: 142 x 120 cm; 166 x 146 cm (frame).
The figures that conform the scene are worked with an enormous idealism, emphasizing the softness of the Virgin's face, the expressiveness and the modulated illumination used manages to provide a greater physical presence, a greater three-dimensionality and also intensity and effectiveness to the figure. These features, as well as the chromatic range used, are typical features of the Italian baroque. Both the rotundity of the figures that make up the scene, the volumes, the use of a classical composition, in which the characters are arranged forming a triangle, located in the center of the scene, and the interest in drawing over color, indicate that this is the Italian scene, in fact the scene has many similarities with works by Annibale Carraci such as the Holy Family of the Hermitage Museum, or more specifically with the Holy Family with St. John of the National Gallery in London.
The flight into Egypt is an episode of the Gospel of St. Matthew very popular in the history of art. The passage has often been depicted 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 suckle the Child. This scene takes place in an idealized landscape, which shows the strong influence of 17th century Italian Baroque models in this work, among other details. The presence of the little love birds, as well as the standing angel guiding the donkey, identify this religious scene in a concrete way, beyond the representation of the Holy Family.