Lombard School, 17th century, Flight into Egypt

Lombard school, 17th century

Escape to Egypt

oil on canvas, 58,5 x 44 cm

The work depicts the Flight into Egypt, set in a hilly landscape dominated by dense, earthy, and green tree vegetation. At the center of the scene, the Virgin Mary, dressed in a rose-red dress and a draped blue cloak, sits astride a dark donkey, holding the Child Jesus in her arms. On the right, Saint Joseph walks beside the animal, carrying a burden on a staff, while casting a watchful gaze toward his family. In the left foreground, an angelic or servile figure with an Apollonian appearance kneels in an attitude of humble service, tending the donkey. The landscape and the vegetal background open up with flashes of luminous light rendered with broad, wavy brushstrokes.

The painting fits squarely into the tradition of 17th-century Lombard painting, a period characterized by a synthesis of the devotionalism of previous centuries and a penchant for emotional and scenographic narrative. In particular, the work exhibits striking affinities with the pictorial styles of the Nuvolone family, whose workshop dominated the Milanese scene for decades.

The rendering of the figures is the element that most clearly points to the Nuvolonian style. Consider the Virgin and, in particular, the angel in the foreground: there is a tendency toward physiognomic idealization that never veers into pure academic abstraction, maintaining a certain volumetric solidity. The application of color is characterized by a rapid execution that does not seek microscopic finesse, but focuses on the overall effect and the rendering of light on the fabric. This style clearly owes its influence to the work of Carlo Francesco Nuvolone. Comparisons can be made with works such as "Christ and the Adulteress."

While the main figures are influenced by Carlo Francesco, the spatial organization and integration with the landscape also suggest his brother Giuseppe Nuvolone. Giuseppe, while following in his brother's footsteps, developed a more pronounced taste for scenography and an attention to natural, sometimes almost anecdotal, detail, inserted into devotional contexts. The use of large trees with foliage treated in a rich, textured manner and with "broad brushstrokes," forming a natural canopy above the Virgin, is a frequent compositional device in his work. A fitting comparison can be made with the "Flight into Egypt."

The object is in good condition

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