Andalusian school; 18th century."Rest during the flight to Egypt".Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.It

Andalusian school; 18th century.
"Rest during the flight to Egypt".
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
It presents repainting and a slight bulge in the canvas.
Size: 104 x 84 cm; 112 x 91 cm (frame).
The flight to Egypt is an episode of the Gospel of Matthew very much treated in art, frequently used to identify the Holy Family with those disadvantaged by emigration and political repression. The New Testament account, very brief and typical of Matthew's Gospel, 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 fulfilment of an Old Testament prophecy: "out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1). In the apocryphal Gospels and in later Christian tradition, this episode will be expanded with a multitude of anecdotes and miracles that take place during the journey, including the rest during the flight into Egypt, a necessary pause for the Virgin to suckle the Child. This scene is set in an idealised landscape, with Joseph accompanying the Virgin on a donkey, holding the Child in her arms, who seems to be watched by two angels on the right-hand side of the composition. The natural setting suggests that it depicts the Rest in the Flight into Egypt, although the absence of luggage could also mean that it is a Holy Family.
The work is aesthetically reminiscent of Murillo's painting. Little is known about Murillo's childhood and youth, except that he lost his father in 1627 and his mother in 1628, which is why he was taken into the care of his brother-in-law. Around 1635 he must have begun his apprenticeship as a painter, most likely with Juan del Castillo, who was married to a cousin of his. This working and artistic relationship lasted about six years, as was customary at the time. After his marriage in 1645 he embarked on what was to be a brilliant career that gradually made him the most famous and sought-after painter in Seville. The only trip he is known to have made is documented in 1658, when Murillo was in Madrid for several months. It is conceivable that while at court he kept in touch with the painters who lived there, such as Velázquez, Zurbarán and Cano, and that he had access to the collection of paintings in the Royal Palace, a magnificent subject of study for all the artists who passed through the court. Despite the few documentary references to his mature years, we know that he enjoyed a comfortable life, which enabled him to maintain a high standard of living and have several apprentices. Having become the city's leading painter, even surpassing Zurbarán in fame, he was determined to raise the artistic level of local painting. In 1660 he decided, together with Francisco Herrera el Mozo, to found an academy of painting, of which he was the main driving force. His fame spread so far throughout Spain that Palomino states that around 1670 King Charles II offered him the chance to move to Madrid to work there as a court painter. We do not know whether this reference is true, but the fact is that Murillo remained in Seville until the end of his life. Works by Murillo are now in the most important art galleries in the world, such as the Prado Museum, the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan in New York and the National Gallery in London.