Rest on the Flight into Egypt and the Miraculous Field of Wheat by Joachim Patinir

Rest on the Flight into Egypt and the Miraculous Field of Wheat c. 1518 - 1524

impressionist painting style

impressionist landscape

possibly oil pastel

oil painting

earthy tone

underpainting

painting painterly

watercolour illustration

surrealist

watercolor

Joachim Patinir's "Rest on the Flight into Egypt and the Miraculous Field of Wheat" (c. 1518-1524) is a quintessential example of Northern Renaissance landscape painting. The piece showcases Patinir's mastery of detailed realism and his ability to portray vast panoramas. The painting depicts the biblical story of the Flight into Egypt, with the Virgin Mary and Child resting at the base of a rocky outcrop. This scene is dwarfed by the expansive landscape that stretches out behind them, filled with meticulously rendered details of villages, fields, and figures engaged in daily activities. The inclusion of a field of wheat miraculously growing overnight (referenced in the title) serves as a subtle reference to the divine intervention guiding the Holy Family on their journey.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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This painting depicts scenes from the Bible related to the so-called Massacre of the Innocents. King Herod, upon hearing that a “King of the Jews”—Jesus Christ—had been born in Bethlehem, orders the slaughter of all male children in and around the town in order to protect his claim to the throne. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—the Holy Family—escaped to Egypt. While the infanticide rages in the distance, Joseph, on the left, collects water from a spring that appeared as a miracle of God. To track down the Holy Family, Herod’s soldiers interrogate farmers in their fields. The farmers truthfully answer that the family passed when the wheat seed was being sown into the ground. Through divine intervention, the wheat grows to its full height overnight, suggesting that the family had passed several months earlier and saving them from certain death.