painting (oil): ["Rest on the Flight Into Egypt"] aka "Virgin, Child and St Joseph in Landscape"

The rest (or repose) on the flight into Egypt is taken from the statement in Matthew which relates how Joseph, warned in a dream that King Herod was searching for the infant Jesus to kill him, took him and his mother away to safety in Egypt. The story was embellished in various New Testament apocryphal texts. In NCM 1910-61, the Virgin is suckling the Christ child beneath a tree. The "Virgo lactans" or "maria lactans" is the most ancient type of Virgin and Child. The donkey is tethered behind them and Joseph kneels on the right. Their belongings, the shoes and the basket, are seen on the ground. An angel draws down a branch of the tree so that the family can reach the fruit. Houses can be seen in the middle-distance on the right of the composition. The figures in the cornfield in the background at left suggest another legend, in which the family are being chased by Herod's men and stop to speak to a farmer who is sowing corn. The Virgin tells the farmer to say to anyone who should ask that they had passed that way at the time of sowing. The corn suddenly grew to its full height so that when the soldiers arrived and received the farmer's reply they turned back assuming that their quarry were too far ahead to be pursued any further. Virag 20/12/2004, Between 1984 and 1985, a research assistant, Dr. Brendan Cassidy, was employed by Nottingham Castle Museum to research and write a catalogue of the foreign oil paintings in their collection. The catalogue never materialised, but drafts and notes relating to Cassidy's research can be found in the Artist Files and in the Archive at the museum. All references to Cassidy relate to these documents. As NCM 1910-61 does not bear a label with a blue border on the reverse denoting ownership by William Graham, it is probable that the work was in the personal collection of Muir Mackenzie and not among those works transferred to him following his marriage to Graham's daughter. On the front: There is some paint loss at the bottom right corner which is revealing the panel underneath. There is cracking on the surface throughout. There is an area of blistering and cracking at upper right (near houses in background). On the reverse: A horizontal strut has been embedded in a hollowed-out band to left of centre and corresponding with the right side of the panel from the front. 1. Label with a red border and docked corners: "34194" 2. In white chalk: "80" 3. White, handwritten label: "Room C.4" (This probably corresponds with a previous location at Nottingham Castle Museum where the galleries are labelled A-F) 4. NCM accession number Virag 20/12/2004, Collection of William Graham M.P. (1817-1885); by marriage to Kenneth Augustus Muir Mackenzie from 1874; on loan to Nottingham Castle Museum (then Midland Counties Art Museum) from 1879; Given by Sir Kenneth Muir Augustus Mackenzie to Nottingham Castle Museum, 10/05/1910.