The Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Art Historical Context

Pier Francesco Mola's *The Rest on the Flight into* (ca. 1641) captures a tender moment from the biblical narrative in Matthew's Gospel, where the Holy Family—Mary Joseph, and the infant Jesus—pauses during their perilous flight from King Herod's massacre of innocents. Depicted with a donkey and attending angels, this intimate oil on copper panel (9 x 11 in.) evokes quiet respite amid danger, a popular motif in Christian art symbolizing divine protection. Mola, a Swiss-Italian Baroque painter active in, drew from Caravaggesque tenebrism and the lyrical landscapes of Guercino, blending dramatic light with soft, atmospheric details. The copper support, prized in the 17th century for its smooth surface, enabled Mola's precise brushwork and jewel-like luminosity, ideal for small-scale devotional works collected by nobility. Acquired through the Wrightsman Fund in 1993, this gem in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's European Paintings collection highlights Baroque Italy's fusion of spirituality and naturalism, inviting viewers to ponder the humanity of sacred figures in a portable, meditative format.

About the Artist

Pier Francesco Mola · 1612–1666

Pier Francesco Mola (1612–1666) was a Roman Baroque painter celebrated for the lyrical quality of his landscapes and the painterly freedom of his figural work, qualities that set him apart from the more rigorous classicism of some of his contemporaries. Born in Coldrerio in the Swiss canton of Ticino, he spent the greater part of his career in Rome, where he underwent an extensive and eclectic for...