Laurent de La Hyre
French, 1606 – 1656
Rest on the Flight into Egypt, 1648
Oil on canvas
38 3/4 x 25 1/4 in. (98.4 x 64.1 cm.)
47 1/4 x 33 3/4 x 2 15/16 in. (120 x 85.7 x 7.5 cm.) (frame)
Museum purchase, Preston Pope Satterwhite Fund
Restored by income from the Marguerite Montgomery Baquie Memorial Trust, 2005  1963.10

A Treacherous Journey
La Hyre, like most people living in France in the 1600s, had no idea what Egypt really looked like, so he had to use his imagination to create a pyramid and the ruins of a classical temple. The flight into Egypt is a biblical event described in the Gospel of Matthew (2:13-23). King Herod of Jerusalem felt his power threatened by the newborn Jesus Christ and ordered the child slaughtered. Joseph, who was warned of the king’s murderous intent by an angel, fled with his family into Egypt.