Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Around 1600, Haarlem was the busy centre of a new Dutch art, and Cornelis van Haarlem stood at its head, alongside Hendrick Goltzius and Karel van Mander. Their early manner leaned on the court painters of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, all twisting muscle and crowded nudes. This quiet scene shows the other side of that same hand. The Holy Family has stopped to rest on the road to Egypt, fleeing King Herod, and the drama drains out of it. Mary sits with the child and Joseph waits nearby, the journey paused for an ordinary moment of shade and food. As Cornelis grew older his work settled into this calmer, more classical mood, and religious subjects like this let him paint tenderness rather than spectacle. It reached Bucharest through the royal collection of Carol I, Romania's first king.