French School, Animated Landscape, Flight Into Egypt?, Oil On Canvas, 17th Century Dlg Poussin

In the spirit of Poussin and 17th-century Roman landscapes, this charming painting depicts a small town in the distance nestled in the bend of a river or a wide stream, under a vast, bright sky, framed by lush nature. The foreground is occupied by animals grazing near the embankments (sheep, oxen) and by four figures depicted with great economy of means, a few touches of color being enough to indicate their presence and attitudes. The couple on the left consists of a man draped in red, in the antique style, and a woman on a mount, a round shape in her lap perhaps indicating a child's skull: the scene could evoke a Flight into Egypt, a subject that enjoyed particular popularity in the 17th century thanks to the autonomy and revaluation of the landscape in the hierarchy of pictorial genres. It is worth noting various restorations and gaps, best described in the photographs. The work has been relined. Above all, a very interesting detail appeared during cleaning with this face under the visible layer (see photo), a sign of a reuse of the canvas, the artist having painted over an existing subject. Despite, therefore, some conservation problems (minimal losses, cracks, old restorations), it is a small, well-executed painting, very luminous, with a lively and controlled touch, and to be placed in the taste of contemporary Poussinian productions. Dimensions: 25 x 33 cm