Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt

License imageDownload image

Rembrandt van Rijn , Dutch, 1606-1669

Title

Date1647

MediumOil on wood panel

Dimensions

34 x 48 cm

Signedlower left: Rembrandt f. 1647

Credit LinePurchased, 1883

Object numberNGI.215

DescriptionThe Bible describes how King Herod, having been notified that a new ‘King of the Jews’ had been born, ordered the killing of all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two. In order to save the Christ Child, an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him to flee with his family to Egypt.
This moving subject, popular in the arts since the Middle Ages, occupies only a small space in Rembrandt’s painting. In this work, the artist focuses his attention on the landscape around the group of figures: the mesmerising scene of a hilly landscape at night, illuminated by multiple light sources. For this reason, the painting is usually classified as one of Rembrandt’s nine painted landscapes. Of the nine,
Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt is the artist’s only nightscape.
Regarded as the most gifted Dutch artist, Rembrandt was also one of the most versatile, excelling in painting, drawing and the art of etching. He mostly represented subjects from the Bible and classical mythology and portrayed many burghers from Amsterdam.

March 2016

ProvenanceHenry Hoare, Esq., Stourhead, Wiltshire by 1752; by descent; purchased, Christie's, 2 June 1883, Stourhead Heirlooms sale, lot 68 Exhibition HistoryOld Masters, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1870

Old Masters, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1894

Rembrandt, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1899

Dutch Art 1450-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1929

Rembrandt, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam; Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 1932

Rembrandt Exhibition, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, May - August 1956; Museum Boijmans - van Beuningen, Rotterdam, August - October 1956

Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964

Rembrandt, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, 1969

Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Ireland, National Gallery, London, 1985

Rembrandt's Artistic Journey: Painter, Draughtsman, Etcher, Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 5 October 2002 - 6 January 2003

Rembrandt, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 7 October 2008 - 6 January 2009

Turner and the Masters, Tate Britain, London, 23 September 2009 - 31 January 2010

Lines of Vision. Irish Writers at the National Gallery of Ireland, 8 October 2014 —12 April 2015

Rembrandt: Britain’s Discovery of the Master, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 07 July - 14 October 2018

Rembrandt's Light, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 4 October 2019 - 2 February 2020

Rembrandt - Hoogstraten: Colour and Illusion, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 08 October 2024 - 08 January 2025

Label TextHaving been notified that a new ‘King of the Jews’ had been born, King Herod ordered the slaying of all male children in Bethlehem under the age of two. In order to save the Christ Child, an angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him to flee with his family to Egypt. This subject occupies only a small place in Rembrandt’s painting. The artist chose to place more emphasis on the mesmerising atmosphere of a hilly landscape at night, illuminated by multiple light sources. The painting is one of nine painted landscapes by Rembrandt and the only by night.