The Rest on the Flight into Egypt
attributed to Peeter van Avont (Mechelen 1600 - Deurne 1652)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1620 - 1652
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
680 x 840 mm
Place of origin
Flanders (Belgium from 1830)
Order this imageCollection
Belton House, Lincolnshire
NT 436022
Caption
The setting of this scene has clearly been derived from the tradition of depicting the Virgin and Child in a rose garden. The image is drawn from the ‘Song of Songs’ in the Bible, where the ‘enclosed garden’ signifies Mary’s virginity. However, the presence of Joseph, just visible in the background watering the ass, sets the scene as the rest on the flight into Egypt. The Holy Family were forced to flee from King Herod, who was searching for the infant Christ in order to kill him. This scene was often of a devotional rather than narrative character.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, The Madonna and Child, attributed to Jan Brueghel the younger (Antwerp 1601 - Antwerp 1678) and Peeter van Avont (Mechelen 1600 - Deurne 1652). The Madonna is seated on a bench with the Christ Child in her lap, in a wooded landscape with St Joseph watering the ass in the background.
Provenance
Purchased with a grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) from Edward John Peregrine Cust, 7th Baron Brownlow, C. St J. (b.1936) in 1984
Credit line
Belton House, The Brownlow Collection (acquired with the help of the National Heritage Memorial Fund by the National Trust in 1984)
Makers and roles
attributed to Peeter van Avont (Mechelen 1600 - Deurne 1652), artist attributed to Jan Brueghel the Younger (Antwerp 1601 - Antwerp 1678) , artist
