(Bologna 1571–circa 1630 Milan)
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt,
signed lower left (on the stone): Carlo Antonio Proca,
oil on panel, 43 x 59.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Archinto Family, Milan;
Count Giuseppe Archinto, Milan;
his sale, Drouot, Paris, 18 May 1863, lot 75 (as Breughel et C. Procacini);
with Trafalgar Galleries, London

Exhibited:
Trafalgar Galleries at the Royal Academy, 1983, no. 17

Literature:
M. B. Castellotti, La Pittura Lombarda del ‘600, Milan 1985, fig. 467 (as Carlo Antonio Procaccini);
A. E. Pérez Sánchez, Pintura Espanola de Bodegones e Floreros de 1600 a Goya, Museo del Prado, Madrid 1983, p. 24-25, ill. (as Carlo Antonio Procaccini);
A. E. Pérez Sánchez, La Nature Morte Espagnole du XVIIe siècle à Goya, Fribourg 1987, p. 15 (as Carlo Antonio Procaccini)

The Holy Family rests during their journey to Egypt while cherubs in flight bring the tired travellers fruit. The group is surrounded by an imaginary landscape with a circular Roman temple alongside which a noble family strolls, a bridge crossed by a knight, and the winding banks of a river, flanked by various buildings and small figures, below the distant sky. It is easy to see this skilled depiction of an enchanted view as a product from a collaboration with Jan Brueghel, or another Flemish master equally capable of interpreting this type of charmed microcosm, made during the age of cardinal Federico Borromeo. Indeed, this fashion is significantly evident in the Ambrosiana collection. However, both the signature and the distinctive style of the present delightful miniature, indicate that it is an autonomous work by Carlo Antonio Procaccini ‘alla rincorsa dei maestri fiamminghi’ [‘following in the manner of the Flemish masters’] (Jan Brueghel and Paul Brill), as Alessandro Morandotti has remarked. Procaccini consequently became recognised as these renowned artists ‘vero e proprio alter ego italiano’ [‘real Italian alter ego’] (D’Albo 2016). This work is proof, as Roberto Longhi first observed (Longhi 1965), of how by dedicating himself to still-life and landscape painting Carlo Antonio carved for himself a clear niche in the arts milieu of Milan, in relation to his brothers Camillo and Giulio Cesare. He thereby gained a respectable clientele of collectors who admired the Flemish painters, but hesitated to pay their high prices. He was praised by Girolamo Borsieri: ‘Carlo Antonio Procaccino valoroso oltra i paesi, ne’ quali ha egli acquistato gran nome seguendo la diligenza trovata da Gio. Breughel e la forza che si vede in quei del Brillo’ [‘Carlo Antonio Procaccini is celebrated for his landscapes and has claimed a great name for himself by following the diligence discovered in Gio. Breughel and the force that is seen in works by Brill’] (1619). Meanwhile, Malvasia adds that even the Spanish governors brought his works: ‘portandoli poi con essi loro, nel ritorno in Madrite’ [‘bringing them back with them, on their return to Madrid’] (1678). Breughel’s Adam in Earthly Paradise and the Triumph of Saint Charles Borromeo are comparable with the present painting (Morandotti 1999).

The present panel painting was once part of the Archinto family collection (where it remained until 1863), thereafter it changed owner several times before remerging with the Trafalgar Galleries at the Royal Academy (1983, no. 17). It was published by Marco Bona Castellotti (1985, fig. 467) and in 1999 Alessandro Morandotti reconfirmed its attribution to Carlo Antonio (D’Albo 2016).

The present work dates to between 1610 and 1615 and is close in composition to the Saint George and the Dragon in the Pinacoteca Malaspina in Pavia, the Landscape with Saint Margaret in the Pinacoteca Ala Ponzone, Cremona (Marubbi 2007) and the Martyrdom of Saint Stephen and the Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (Crispo 2003). Other later works demonstrate Carlo Antonio’s ability to fuse figures with landscape: Christ Healing the Blind Man, Mercury and the Daughters of Cecrops, reiterations of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt enclosed by garlands of flowers and Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (Dotti 2011). The present painting is a central reference point demonstrating Carlo Antonio’s singular evolution within Borromean culture.

We are grateful to Filippo Maria Ferro for cataloguing the present painting.