Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Details of the New Testament story that is the subject of this painting originate in the non-canonical Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew about the Saviour’s Childhood. The apocryphal story vividly describes the scene in which the Holy Family rests under a palm tree while being waited on by the angels, as water springs miraculously from the ground. Albani set the scene in an idealized landscape representing an equal partner to the figural component.