Rest on the Flight into Egypt

In this etching, Mary and Joseph feast on the fruits of their guardian angels’ labors—harvested from a tall date palm and drawn from a hidden spring—during a respite on their way to Egypt. Simone Cantarini’s broad etching style gives the scene an openness and feeling of immediacy and calm lacking in other treatments of the subject. No vignettes hint at the ghastly Massacre of the Innocents, which the Holy Family has journeyed to avoid. The influence of Cantarini’s one-time teacher Guido Reni is also suggested by the placid intimacy of the mother and child.