Circle of Cornelis van Poelemburch (1590 or 1594 or 1595 - 1667)

Circle of Cornelis van Poelemburch (Utrecht, 1590 or 1594 or 1595 - 1667), attr.

Rest during the flight into Egypt

Oil on panel, cm 12,5 x 14,5 – With frame, cm 24 x 27

The panel Rest during the flight into Egypt is attributed to the circle of Cornelis van Poelenburch, famous for his Italianate Arcadian landscapes populated by small, elegantly modeled figures. The work reflects the original synthesis of Northern realism and Italian classical ideals that is one of the distinctive features of his poetics and which guaranteed him extraordinary success among collectors in the first half of the 17th century. Trained in the workshop of Abraham Bloemaert, Poelenburch spent a long period in Italy between 1617 and 1625, living mainly in Rome and Florence. During these years, he came into direct contact with the classical landscape and the Italian figurative tradition, developing a highly personal style characterized by luminous natural backdrops, ancient ruins, and idyllic atmospheres. He was one of the leading exponents of the Dutch Italianates and one of the founders of the Schildersbent, confirming the central role of his Roman experience in defining his artistic language. The subject of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt was tackled several times by the artist, becoming one of his favorite subjects for the exercise of his lyrical sensibility. The painting in question bears striking similarities to other versions created during or immediately after his stay in Italy, such as the painting formerly in the collection of the Duke of Choiseul, which was auctioned at Sotheby's in London on July 6, 2006, and the one from the James Irvine collection, sold at the same auction house on March 28, 2017. In these works, as in this one, the sacred scene blends harmoniously into the landscape, transforming itself into an intimate and contemplative episode, more suggested than narrated. Poelenburch excelled in the rendering of small figures, often nude, set in natural or architectural contexts of classical inspiration, painted on copper or panel. His early works show such marked similarities to the style of Bartholomeus Breenbergh that attribution is sometimes difficult, but by the 1620s his language was already fully autonomous. After returning to Utrecht, the artist enjoyed exceptional success, frequenting aristocratic circles and receiving commissions of the highest level. In 1627, he acted as a guide to Peter Paul Rubens during the latter's visit to Utrecht, a sign of the esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries. Between 1637 and 1641, he stayed in England, working for King Charles I, before returning permanently to Utrecht, where he died in 1667. His patrons included prominent figures such as Cosimo II de' Medici, Frederick V, and Frederick Henry of Orange. Influenced by the works of Adam Elsheimer and Paul Brill, Poelenburch himself exerted a profound influence on numerous artists and students. The panel depicting the Rest on the Flight into Egypt is therefore an emblematic example of the work of a very promising pupil of Poelenburgh, who was able to transform a biblical episode into a suspended and poetic vision, where devotion merges with an ideal of classical and timeless beauty.

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