Shop art print and framed art The Flight into Egypt by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

The Rest during the Flight into Egypt is a painting by the Spanish painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, dated around 1665, which is kept in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg. The painting entered the Hermitage in 1769 from the collection of Jean-Louis Gaignat in Paris. The early history of the painting is unknown. In 1768, it belonged to the former secretary to Louis XV, Jean-Louis Gaignat, and in December it was auctioned in Paris. Empress Catherine II commissioned Diderot to buy five of the finest paintings in the Gaignat collection for the Hermitage, including one by Murillo. In 1769, the painting was transported to St Petersburg and entered the Hermitage collections. In 1967, the painting underwent a major restoration, during which several old repaired tears in the canvas were discovered. An X-ray examination revealed the changes the artist had made to the painting: the wrist of Maria's left hand had been moved to the side and the gestures of the fingers had been altered. Since the 1840s, the painting has been on display in the New Hermitage building, in room 239. The painting represents the classic motif in Christian iconography of the episode of the halt, or the halt in the flight of the Holy Family during their journey to Egypt. The painting shows the final scene of this event: the gourds and jugs are filled with water, everyone is fed and the infant Jesus has fallen asleep. Mary and Joseph watch over the Child as he sleeps, while two angels on the left look on [...]

 

This artwork is a painting from the classical period. It belongs to the baroque style.

 

« The Flight into Egypt » is kept at Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, United States.

 

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