The Rest on the Flight into Egypt with St. John the Baptist

Fra Bartolomeo painted this Rest on the Flight into Egypt with Saint John the Baptist around 1509, during his mature period when he was prior of San Marco in Florence. The subject — the Holy Family resting during their flight to Egypt while the young Baptist encounters them — was a devotional narrative combining the New Testament infancy story with Florentine devotion to the Baptist. Fra Bartolomeo's composition shows the influence of his artistic exchange with Raphael, with the harmonious pyramidal figure grouping and luminous landscape characteristic of the High Renaissance ideal. The inclusion of the young Baptist was a distinctively Florentine addition reflecting the city's identification with the prophet who first recognized Christ.

Oil on panel displaying Fra Bartolomeo's monumental figure style and atmospheric landscape. His characteristic tonal unity and dignified poses reveal the influence of both Savonarolan devotion and High Renaissance classicism.