Rest on the flight to Egypt

In 1520/21, in the cosmopolitan mercantile hub of Antwerp where he had worked since 1515 as an independent master, Patinir met Albrecht Dürer, who referred to Patinir in his travel diary as a “good landscape painter”, thereby employing this term for the very first time. With his landscapes, where the cosmic order is joined with a multiplicity of observed natural details, Patinir – who was influenced by
Hieronymus Bosch, Gerard David, and Quinten Massys – prepared the way for Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
Patinir himself did not paint the Madonna who looms large in the foreground of the landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, instead entrusting this work to an artist from the studio of Joos van Cleve, who himself had recourse to the example set by the Virgin and Child by a Fireplace (Saint Petersburg, Hermitage) by the Master of Flémalle. The viewer’s gaze soars like a bird in flight over this spacious landscape. The terrain spreads itself out before our eyes like a colourful carpet. Here, nature is perceived as an element of a larger cosmic order. And this order is responsible for the unity of the depth of space and the breadth of the sky. The nature that is arrayed here by God consists of a multiplicity of precisely observed details that come together to form a larger image, one that continually discloses new aspects. Penetrating into the distance, the gaze apprehends fantastic cliffs which loom up all the way into the clouds, wandering unobstructed into the distance, where a seemingly endless forest stretches out, and ships sail out into the boundless expanse of the sea. Very few local colours are used to convey an impression of depth and breadth; instead, a multitude of green and brown gradations gradually yield to the bright, crystalline blue along the horizon.
Combined with this masterful handling of colour and meticulous description of phenomena is a conscientious depiction of occurrences that are intertwined with reports about the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. It is not the Bible, but instead apocryphal texts to which we owe our knowledge of the numerous marvelous events that occurred during the Flight. In particular, it was the apocryphal
Gospel of Pseudo Matthew that exercised a stronger influence than the Bible on literature and art during the Middle Ages, and continuing up until the Renaissance. Here, it is reported that when the Holy Family travelled to the town of Sotinen and entered the temple there, the idols of the heathen gods toppled to the ground. In this painting, we see a temple set high up in the slopes of a tall mountain, and alongside the path leading up to the sanctuary, a statue that topples from its
column. The spring that flows near the roots of a tree in the foreground refers to another miracle reported by legend. The trusting bird seen near the Virgin and Child illustrates that even the creatures recognise their Lord. In Bethlehem, an impoverished village situated near the river that flows into the ocean on the right, we see the soldiers sent by Herod to massacre the innocents. Filled with despair,
the lamenting mothers attempt to shelter their children. In his panorama, Patinir has depicted this series of events contemporaneously in order to clarify that the scene only acquires its special significance in light of its chronological sequencing.
Among these events is the legend of the Miracle of the Harvest, which is frequently depicted in Netherlandish art. When the Holy Family flees Bethlehem in fear of Herod’s soldiers, they pass peasants sowing grain. Joseph instructs them to tell their pursuers that they passed by when the crop was sown. Through a miracle, the corn grew overnight, and was ready for harvesting the very next morning. In this way, the soldiers were deceived by the truthful information offered by the peasants, and were hence prompted to abandon their pursuit. Patinir has given vivid shape to the legend through the juxtaposition of the freshly tilled yet already ripened fields at the edge of Bethlehem and the questioning of the peasants by the soldiers. Not just the scenes scattered throughout the landscape, but the flowers and plants as well facilitate a deeper understanding of the depicted event. Both the yellow flag set next to the spring in the foreground as well as the thorny thistles are symbolic references to the imminent Passion of Christ, which will bring redemption to humanity. Rainald Grosshans | 200 Masterpieces of European Painting – Gemäldegalerie Berlin, 2019