Flight into Egypt

In the Spain of the late 1630s, the Catholic Church wanted holy images that felt close and real, images ordinary people could pray to directly. Francisco de Zurbaran, who supplied Seville's monasteries and churches, gives exactly that here. The subject is a night escape. Warned in a dream that King Herod meant to kill the child, Joseph has led Mary and Jesus out of the country toward Egypt. The mood, though, is calm. Mary is painted as a Spanish mother of Zurbaran's own day, turned to face us so that we look straight at the child, while Joseph keeps close beside the donkey, watching over them both. This was made for people kneeling before it in prayer. It reached Seattle only in 2011, a gift from the collector Barney Ebsworth.