Holy Family, rest on the Flight into Egypt

The theme of the Holy Family attended by an angel while they rested on their flight into Egypt from Herod was a popular one in the Catholic devotional art of the Counter Reformation. It invites us to consider the humanity of the Holy Family. We are encouraged to empathise with a family fleeing their homeland in search of safety. Ciro Ferri was the most successful pupil of the baroque painter and architect Pietro da Cortona and closest to him in imagination and skill. The subject offered Ferri the opportunity to show his love of airy landscapes and a graceful mastery of light and shade, derived from his master Cortona.