Rest on the Flight into Egypt (David, Washington)

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Washington version (c. 1510) Gerard David - The rest on the flight into Egypt (National Gallery of Art).jpg
Washington version (c. 1510)

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is an oil painting of around 1510 by the Flemish painter Gerard David now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. [1] It can be compared with other works on the same theme by the same painter in New York, Madrid and Antwerp and a Virgin and Child in Rotterdam.

The Flight into Egypt derives from the Gospel of Matthew (II.13-18), though it does not mention a rest, which derives from apocryphal accounts. It was a popular theme for painters in many periods. David painted it on several occasions using different compositions, [2] possibly not as the result of commissions but simply painted to put on the open market. Many of them are near-identical but for a few small details. However, in all of them David focuses attention on the seated Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Christ Child, enthroned in front of a deep forest landscape background. In the far background there is usually a scene related to either the rest or to the journey to Egypt.

It has an entirely different composition to the Madrid, New York and Antwerp versions and shows the Virgin feeding the Christ Child with a bunch of grapes, a symbol of the Eucharist, and Joseph shaking a chestnut tree to bring down nuts. The bluish landscape is more broadly painted than in the Prado, Metropolitan and Antwerp examples. [3]

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<i>Rest on the Flight into Egypt</i> (David, Madrid) Painting by Gerard David

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is an oil painting of around 1515 by the Flemish painter Gerard David now in the Prado Museum. It can be compared with other works on the same theme by the same painter in New York, Washington and Antwerp and a Virgin and Child in Rotterdam.

<i>Rest on the Flight into Egypt</i> (David, New York) Painting by Gerard David

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is an oil painting of around 1515 by the Flemish painter Gerard David now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

<i>Rest on the Flight into Egypt</i> (David, Antwerp) Painting by Gerard David

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is an oil painting by the Flemish painter Gerard David. It was painted around 1515 and is now housed in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp. It can be compared with other works by David which depict the same theme, including paintings located in Madrid, Washington and New York and a Virgin and Child in Rotterdam.

<i>Virgin and Child</i> (Gerard David) Painting by Gerard David

The Virgin and Child is an oil painting of around 1520 by the Flemish painter Gerard David now in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. It uses a Virgin in the same pose as in works by David now in New York, Washington and Madrid. However, where those three works use the pose to portray the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, the Rotterdam work instead uses the background landscape to represent the "hortus conclusus" or 'closed garden' of the Song of Songs. It also adds white lilies to symbolise Mary's virginity.

References

  1. Mª Ángeles Piquero López. "El Descanso… del Museo del Prado" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  2. "David, Rest on the Flight into Egypt". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2017-06-14.
  3. "David, Rest on the Flight into Egypt". National Gallery of Art. Archived from the original on 2009-05-09. Retrieved 2017-06-14.