3-002-484 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c1720-1730. To escape Herod's persecution, Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus to Egypt. The subject of the rest on the flight to Egypt was developed in late medieval art and is not described in the New Testament. In this painting, the Holy Family rests in the shade of a tree. The Christ Child sleeps in the lap of the Virgin Mary, which prefigures her mourning of the dead Christ (the "Pietà").