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Lot Essay
This imposing canvas, now thought to have been painted by an artist in the studio of Francisco Zurbarán, was long attributed to the Spanish master himself. The carefully planned composition with its monumental, dignified figures and rich, brilliant colors contrasted with darker, earthier tones, in fact has led some to consider the painting among 'the best of [Zurbarán's] works outside of Spain, on a par with those remaining there' (Toledo Museum News, loc. cit.). In the mid-20th century, the Zurbarán scholar Martin Soria first recognized the present picture as the work of an artist in the master's close circle, and suggested the brothers Francisco and Miguel Polanco as a possible attribution. Some subsequent scholars, such as Juan Gaya-Nuño (loc. cit.), accepted Soria's hypothesis, while others thought the picture might have been executed by Zurbarán in collaboration with an assistant. Others, such as Gállego and Gudiol, still retained the attribution to Zurbarán himself (loc. cit.). Most recently, Odile Delenda, in her exhaustive study of Zurbarán and his immediate circle, related the present picture to a group of works she judges to have been painted by the same hand, whom she names the 'Master of Besançon' after a Flight into Egypt in the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie in Besançon (O. Delenda, 2009, loc. cit.).
The subject of the present work is extremely rare in western art: misidentified for many years as The Flight into Egypt, this picture in fact represents The Return From Egypt, as indicated by the appearance of the young Christ, who has clearly aged several years since the time of the Flight. As recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, after King Herod died, 'an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.' (Matthew 2:19-20). In the present work, the members of the Holy Family are depicted as ordinary Spanish peasants preparing to say their goodbyes, with Mary, at right, tenderly embracing those who have looked after them during their exile. At left, in a human and somewhat humorous touch, Joseph offers an apple to an uninterested young Christ, whose downcast expression may imply a foreknowledge of his eventual fate. This portion of the composition--the upper left quadrant--is repeated in a contemporary replica (Sarasota, Ringling Museum of Art).
A picture matching the description of the present Return from Egypt was recorded in an inventory of the collection of the canon and Royal Chaplain Don Pablo Recio y Tellos (1765-1815), who lived in Madrid. The painting was subsequently acquired by George William, fourth Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), who served as the British ambassador in Madrid from 1833-1839. William brought the picture back to England, where it remained in his family's collection until 1920. Soon thereafter it was acquired by the founder of the Toledo Museum of Art, Edward Drummond Libbey, who had a special fondness for Spanish painting. In 1923 he gifted The Return from Egypt to the Toledo Museum, making it the first Spanish picture to enter the museum's collection.
The subject of the present work is extremely rare in western art: misidentified for many years as The Flight into Egypt, this picture in fact represents The Return From Egypt, as indicated by the appearance of the young Christ, who has clearly aged several years since the time of the Flight. As recounted in the Gospel of Matthew, after King Herod died, 'an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.' (Matthew 2:19-20). In the present work, the members of the Holy Family are depicted as ordinary Spanish peasants preparing to say their goodbyes, with Mary, at right, tenderly embracing those who have looked after them during their exile. At left, in a human and somewhat humorous touch, Joseph offers an apple to an uninterested young Christ, whose downcast expression may imply a foreknowledge of his eventual fate. This portion of the composition--the upper left quadrant--is repeated in a contemporary replica (Sarasota, Ringling Museum of Art).
A picture matching the description of the present Return from Egypt was recorded in an inventory of the collection of the canon and Royal Chaplain Don Pablo Recio y Tellos (1765-1815), who lived in Madrid. The painting was subsequently acquired by George William, fourth Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), who served as the British ambassador in Madrid from 1833-1839. William brought the picture back to England, where it remained in his family's collection until 1920. Soon thereafter it was acquired by the founder of the Toledo Museum of Art, Edward Drummond Libbey, who had a special fondness for Spanish painting. In 1923 he gifted The Return from Egypt to the Toledo Museum, making it the first Spanish picture to enter the museum's collection.