MARATTA; CARLO
1625 Camerano - 1713 Rome - circle

Rest on the Flight to Egypt. Oil on canvas. Relined. 79;5 x 56cm. Framed.

Completely committed to the Baroque pictorial concept; Mary with child and Joseph are rendered as monumental figures in front of a vast layered landscape. The striking bright blue of Mary's cloak is emphasised by her red undergarment; the rich green of the cushion on which the lively baby Jesus is lying and Joseph's yellow ochre cloak at the feet of the Madonna. This colour range is strongly accentuated by an almost stage-like illumination; or rather a lighting of the whole foreground - a "heavenly light" showing us a moment in which the Holy Family is pausing; at rest on their flight to Egypt. The lighting changes in the middle- and in the background; with "real" light and shadow corresponding to an invisible sun. The landscape evokes a rather academic concept favouring the line; which justifies the assumption that the painter of the figures was another than the painter of the landscape. Thus the painting conveys; despite its warm-hearted theme; an underlying coldness - the outlines of the objects; the figures; trees and the foliage being sharply rendered in the bright light; the drawing and colouring of the details having a dry and stiff basic colour.
Art trade; Van Ham.