(Genoa circa 1620–1664/72 Milan)
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt,
oil on canvas, 124.5 x 147 cm, framed

Provenance:
art market, Rome;
Private collection Genoa, until 2018;
art market;
where acquired by the present owner

Exhibited:
Genoa, Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, Genova nell’Eta Barocca,
2 May – 26 July 1992, no. 177

Literature:
F. Lamera, Anton Maria Vassallo, in: E. Gavazza et al., La pittura in Liguria, Il secondo Seicento, Genoa 1990, p. 434, fig. 526;
L. Lodi, in: E. Gavazza/G. Rotondi Terminiello (eds.), Genova nell’Eta Barocca, exhibition catalogue, Bologna 1992, no. 177 (with incorrect measurements);
A. Orlando, Anton Maria Vassallo, Genoa 1999, cat. II. 43, p. 24, fig. 24

We are grateful to Anna Orlando for her help in cataloguing the present painting.

The present painting is a typical work by Anton Maria Vassallo and displays strong Rubensian qualities, derived from the artist’s master, Vincent Malò, a direct pupil of Rubens during his Genoese period. Orlando dates this painting to the Genoese artist’s maturity, during the latter 1630s (see A. Orlando Anton Maria Vassallo pittore ‘universale’ tra committenza pubblica, collezionismo privato e mercato dell’arte, in: Anton Maria Vassallo. Un dipinto per la Galleria Nazionale della Liguria, G. Zanelli ed., Genoa 2018, pp. 27-53, with revised bibliography and catalogue).

Vassallo painted other works representing the Flight into Egypt, notably: the small vertical format canvas in the Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, Genoa (49.5 x 36 cm, inv. no. 56); another small, but horizontal format canvas in a private collection (Orlando 1999, fig. 15); and another version which was brought to light more recently (98 x 145.5 cm; Orlando 2018, op. cit., fig. 6) and has similar dimensions to the present painting. As a subject, the Flight into Egypt permits a choice between two variants: the representation of the Holy Family on the move, or at rest, as in the present instance. Like the Holy Family, this biblical subject gained particular approbation from seventeenth-century patrons because it permitted the simultaneous depiction of a sacred devotional subject which was also inspired by daily life: in this way, it gave the artist an opportunity to communicate vernacular feelings concerning the serenity of domestic life. In the present painting, the idea of representing Saint Joseph’s intent on reading, perhaps from the Scriptures, is unusual, and was perhaps the choice of Vassallo, or of an erudite patron. The Saint appears to be shown reading aloud to divert Mary, and it is exactly this kind of detail which lent a natural demeanour and calm quality to the painting. Such a quality was in keeping with the ideas of the quotidian that so appealed to patrons of the age, as well as to Vassallo and his peers, who were the protagonists of contemporary painting in Genoa during the middle decades of the seventeenth century.

It is interesting to note the presence of a pentimento in the rendering of the Virgin’s foot. Originally positioned lower, the artist evidently erased it by tonally blending it in with amber-brown earth colours that have since faded, allowing the sketch of a second foot to clearly shine through.