On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01640
- Author
- Rubens, Peter Paul (Flemish)
- Title
- Rest on the Flight from Egypt, with Saints
- Chronology
- Ca. 1635
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 87 cm x 125 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
Rubens combines various subjects in
this work. The figure of Saint
Joseph sleeping in a landscape
alongside a grazing donkey, and the
Virgin Mary sitting on a boulder
with her son refer to the rest on
the Flight from Egypt, but the
artist also added various images of
saints to the left of the main
group. These include Saint George
and the dragon, and Saint
Catherine, whose factions are those
of Helène Fourment, the painter's
second wife. Her pose is quite
similar to the one in The Garden of
Lover (P1690). On the right, some
angels play with a lamb,
symbolizing the sacrifice of
Christ, while another angel hushes
them in the presence of the Christ
Child.
The idyllic sense of the scene and
its setting in a garden space
relates the work to the artist's
mature phase. The use of Italian
architecture and the affected poses
of some of the figures are also
characteristic of that last
period.
This is probably the painting that
appears in the collection of the
Marquis of El Carpio in 1688 and
later passed to Carlos II. It has
been listed in the Royal Collection
since 1700.
Location on the map
