Pierre Patel, 'Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt', 1652

In this fantastical setting, the holy family pause on their journey beside a derelict Roman temple. Among crumbling columns and fragmented archways, niches with antique statues and sculpted bas-reliefs remain intact.

The Virgin Mary gives some figs to Christ as a symbol of her virtue and fertility, while Joseph rests against a stone altar or Roman sarcophagus. Placing the scene among these classical ruins symbolises the collapse of ancient Roman paganism and the triumph of Catholicism.

The family have fled to Egypt to escape persecution by Herod, who had ordered the execution of all babies born in Bethlehem. The Flight into Egypt is referred to in the Gospel of Matthew (2: 13–15) although the ‘rest’ we see here relates to a later, more elaborate Latin version of the story (Evangelium 21–22). Like other painters, Patel ignored many of the details in the later legend. This narrative describes the holy family sheltering from the sun under a palm tree, but the Virgin and Christ here are partially shaded by an oak tree – although several palm trees are positioned nearby to show that this scene takes place in Egypt. To the right, an undamaged marble statue of a goddess is positioned within a niche, but according to the legend when the family entered the temple at Sotina all the idols fell off the altar.

Patel probably never visited Italy, but here he recreates the countryside around Rome – the Roman Campagna. The landscape was probably inspired by the work of Patel’s celebrated contemporary, Claude, who spent many years in Rome. The ruins may show the impact of Claude’s Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba and Ulysses restituting Chryseis to Chryses (Louvre, Paris), both of which probably arrived in Paris some years before Patel painted this. As in Claude’s work, precise architectural drawing is used to create perspective, and the arrangement of archways and columns lead our eye into the distance.

The composition is painted in a classical style: the landscape is ordered and balanced with trees and ruined buildings framing the scene. The mountains and buildings in the background are shown as blue, reflecting the way that atmospheric effects alter the way we perceive colours in a distant landscape – a phenomenon known as aerial perspective.