The Rest on the Flight into Egypt

Camillo Procaccini used etching, a relatively new medium at the time, to create what were considered “printed drawings,” prints with the effect of spontaneous drawings, made with delicate and fluid lines on the etching plate. Here, he filled almost every inch of the composition with moving foliage, practically fusing nature with Mary, Joseph, and the Christ child, who have stopped on their flight from King Herod’s troops sent to kill Christ. Nature functions less as a container of symbols and more as a vibrant life force meant to evoke the viewer’s pious emotion.