The Holy Family. The Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Download1912 × 3000 px View on a wall Edit

Artist: Giulio Cesare Procaccini (Italian, 1574–1625)
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 145 × 92.6 cm
Museum: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
Rights: Public Domain Mark

A Mary full of sorrow bends to the Christ Child who returns her gaze with equal passion. The Passion is also implicitly present in the crossshaped pose of the Christ Child, stretching across the entire surface, and in the red anemones Mary holds in her hand. The mood of the painting The apocryphal writings known as the Pseudo-Gospel of Matthew states how anemones sprang from the ground around the base of the Cross in the evening of Good Friday. The mood of the painting is very much created by contrasts between light and shadow which also serve to prefigure what lies ahead for the small family.

An anticipation of the Baroque painting Giulio Cesare Procaccini began his career as a sculptor, a fact which might explain his solid sense of the plastic. From around 1600 he turned conclusively to painting, developing it in the direction of a refined and elegant Mannerist figural style with clear links to his fellow artist Parmigianino (1503-1540). However, the depth and intensity with which he renders human emotion anticipates Baroque painting.