Rest on the Flight into Egypt
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is a subject in Christian art showing Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus resting during their flight into Egypt. The Holy Family is normally shown in a landscape.
Orazio Gentileschi, 1625–1626
Joachim Patinir, 1518–1520, Prado
Gerard David, c. 1510, National Gallery of Art. Joseph is beating chestnuts from a tree.
Hans Memling triptych, 1475–1480, Louvre
The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the infant Jesus since King Herod would seek the child to kill him. The episode is frequently shown in art, as the final episode of the Nativity of Jesus in art, and was a common component in cycles of the Life of the Virgin as well as the Life of Christ. Within the narrative tradition, iconic representation of the "Rest on the Flight into Egypt" developed after the 14th century.
The Flight into Egypt by Giotto di Bondone (1304–1306, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua)
Fra Bartolomeo, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1500 (Pienza)
Print of the flight into Egypt. Made by Johannes Wierix.
The Return of the Holy Family from Egypt by Jacob Jordaens (c. 1616)
