France / early 1640s
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Rest on the Flight into Egypt as painting (France · early 1640s).
Lorrain placed this Middle Eastern biblical event in the Roman countryside.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this painting as oil on canvas and credits Claude Lorrain (French, 1604–1682).
The museum's collection notes: One of the most influential landscape painters of the early modern era, Lorrain was a master of the “ideal landscape,” which combined lush foliage and a tranquil atmosphere with allusions to an idyllic, imaginary past. The intention was to create views more beautiful and harmonious than nature itself. In the foreground of this soaring landscape, the Holy Family rests on a shady bank as kneeling angels offer fruit to the Christ child. Landscape paintings like this were much in demand among wealthy collectors throughout Europe, for whom these expansive idealized scenes represented a calm retreat from their hectic city lives.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtRest on the Flight into EgyptOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.