Charlotte and I saw a trio of beautiful Caravaggio paintings while visiting the Doria Pamphili Gallery in Rome in September last year. The gallery has hundreds of paintings and many masterpieces. I may do a piece on the gallery as a whole and then on some of its pieces. The one we will focus on today is Caravaggio’s Rest on the Flight into Egypt. This was painted in 1597 and I think it is exquisite. The painting is taken from a passage in the Gospel of Matthew:
Matthew 2:13-23The Escape to Egypt
13 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”
The Massacre of the Infants
16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”The Return from Egypt
19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20 “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”
Below are some details about the room where this masterwork is housed in the gallery.
The Rooms on the Corso
The sixteenth-century smaller rooms overlooking the Via del Corso at the end of the Hall of Mirrors were renovated by the architect Gabriele Valvassori in 1731. The pavilion vaults were decorated with fanciful architecture by the Bolognese artist and scene painter Pompeo Aldobrandini. The rooms show a collection of landscape paintings from the various Doria Pamphilj villas and the ‘still lifes’ painted in oil on copper by Jan van Kessel the Elder with an almost miniature technique, which provide an example of the preciousness and refined skill of the Flemish artist.
In the Second Room you can admire, side by side, the two marvellous canvases with the ‘Penitent Magdalene’ and the ‘Rest during the Flight into Egypt’ by the young Caravaggio, as well as his St. John the Baptist. Doria Pamphili
The detail is just astonishing. Mary is nursing Jesus very tenderly on the right. I bought this as a bookmark from the gift shop, by the way. On the left, St Joseph is holding up a piece of sheet music for an angel who is playing music for him on a viol. The sheet music is from a motet by Flemish composer Noel Bauldeweyn with a text from the Song of Songs dedicated to the Madonna, called Quam pulchra es (How beautiful you are). I have embedded a beautiful recording of it below. The donkey behind Joseph is trying to see what is happening and is very sweet. There is a wine container at Joseph’s left which is perhaps a prefigurement of the Last Supper. The scenery behind the figures in the painting is also beautifully rendered. The angel in the middle of the painting is serene, perhaps happy that the Holy Family are going away from danger.
This painting is an extraordinary work. Charlotte and I were captivated by it and spent a long time in the room seated admiring it. We will certainly go again when we are next in Rome.