Rest on the Flight to Egypt 1524

Parmigianino painted *Rest on the Flight to Egypt* sometime in the 1520s or 30s using oil paint on a wood panel. Oil paint is a wonderfully adaptable material, allowing for both the smooth rendering of skin and fabric, and the depth of tone required for the background forest. It’s all about the layering. Parmigianino would have started with thin washes, gradually building up the image. Notice how the figures seem to glow. This is achieved by applying semi-transparent glazes, allowing light to reflect through the layers of pigment. But oil paint is also relatively slow to dry, which means a painting like this would have been a considerable investment of time, demanding patience and skilled labour. This painstaking approach, of course, was part of the value proposition: a demonstration of artistic mastery and therefore, a symbol of wealth and status. By understanding the material and the making, we can appreciate how this artwork circulated within a Renaissance economy.