''The Flight into Egypt'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a ...

painted in 1657 or 1658. It was originally kept in the Musée du Louvre, then was transferred to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon.

History

The painting was probably inspired by a painting on the same theme by Italian Baroque painter

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

. This painting appeared in an auction in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

in 1986 with 80,000 francs as initial price. It was bought by Richard and Robert Pardo for 1,600,000 francs. Exhibited in the gallery, it was later recognized as an authentic work of the artist. Then there was a lengthy trial whose outcome was unfavorable to Pardo : the final decision was to re-give the painting to the seller. The owner then wanted to sell this work for more than 15 million euros. The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon then began to collect the money to acquire it. In July 2007, the Louvre and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon were finally able to raise the funds necessary to purchase the painting. It would one of the most expensive work ever collected by the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

, with a cost of 17 million euros (1 million provided by the Mayor of Lyon, 250,000 by the Rhône-Alpes region, 1 million by the Musée du Louvre with its own funds, and over 18 patrons such as Gaz de France which gave 3 million euros,

TotalEnergies TotalEnergies SE is a French Multinational corporation, multinational integrated energy and List of oil exploration and production companies, petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven Big Oil, supermajor oil companies. Its businesses ...

AXA Axa S.A. (styled as ''AXA'' or GIG in the Middle East) is a French multinational insurance company. The head office is in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. It also provides investment management and other financial services. The Ax ...

, businesses and banks of Lyon and a private donor). The work was acquired for the Louvre and was transferred in February 2008 at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, the hometown of Jacques Sérisier, who was the first collector of the painting and who was probably its sponsor."17 millions d'euros pour ''La Fuite en Egypte'' de Poussin", ''Le Monde'', 20 July 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flight Into Egypt (Poussin) 1657 paintings Paintings by Nicolas Poussin Paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon Poussin Angels in art Donkeys in art

History

See also

References