Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus are fleeing from King Herod. Here, they are resting, surrounded by angels making music. Behind them is a pastoral landscape of ancient ruins, wooded slopes and rocky precipices. Teniers was inspired by what he had seen around Rome, a desolate landscape with ruins, serving as a backdrop. The many-figured scene in the foreground celebrates the Holy Family’s escape from Herod’s slaying of the infants in Bethlehem.

Credit: Gift 1992 Nationalmusei Vänner