The Return of the Holy Family from Egypt
Nicolas Poussinc. 1628-38
Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, United Kingdom
Unusually, this painting portrays the Holy Family’s Return from Egypt, rather than the more typical Flight into Egypt. This is indicated by the Egyptian landscape in the background, which the Holy Family are travelling away from, rather than towards. The obelisk and pyramid in the distance would have been well-known funerary symbols; along with the putto holding the Cross, they allude to the Christ child’s future sacrifice. The pyramid is most probably based on the ancient Pyramid of Cestius in Rome. The figure in the boat may also be an allusion to Christ’s sacrifice, recalling the ferryman Charon, who, in classical myth, rowed souls across the river Styx to the Underworld.
- Title: The Return of the Holy Family from Egypt
- Creator Lifespan: 1594 - 1665
- Date: c. 1628-38
- Physical Dimensions: w994 x h1178 cm
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil
- Work Nationality: French
- Support: Canvas
- Provenance: J. Purling, 1792; his sale, London, White, 16f Feb. 1801, lot 47. Bt Burch (?Bourgeois); London, Noel Desenfans, 1802-1807: London, Skinner and Dyke, Desenfans sale, 18 Mar. 1802, lot 184 ('N. PoussinÐA Flight into Egypt'. Descriptive Catalogue No. 53: 'painted ... for Madame de Montmor, who some time after. became Madame de Chantelou ... The first object in the centre, is a waterman who is advancing his boat to receive the Holy Family. The ass has already entered, and St. Joseph is kneeling on the edge of the boat, lifting the blessed infant into it, while his head is turned ... the Virgin stands on the right, waiting to enter. On the opposite side of the river we easily distinguish Egypt ... by it's ruins and pyramids; a group of angels carrying a cross, are hovering on the clouds at the moment that St. Joseph lifts from the ground, the infant, whose profile only is seen.' Incorrectly said to have been painted for Mme de Montmort). Handwritten note in copy of catalogue at The Hague, RKD: '5 h. 4'. Bt Chippendale for £168 (Bt in); London, Sir Francis Bourgeois, 1807-1811; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811.
- Further Information: Traditionally called a Flight into Egypt, but the age of the Christ Child has suggested the much less usual subject of the return of the Holy Family from Egypt (Matthew II, 21). If the pyramid and obelisk on the far bank are intended to evoke Egypt, then the subject must be the flight, as the Holy Family is clearly embarking and not disembarking. There seems to be no direct textual source for the vision of the Cross -a clear presage of Christ's Passion, which, according to a number of commentators, began with the flight to Egypt. A similar vision can be found in other, later examples of the Flight (by Castiglione and Camassei, for example). DPG240 was probably painted within the period 1628-30. Another version in the Cleveland Museum of Art seems to be slightly earlier.
- Artist: Poussin, Nicolas
- Acquisition Method: Bourgeois, Sir Peter Francis (Bequest, 1811)
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