A crucial figure in the renewal of European painting in around 1600, Ludovico Carracci helped move painting beyond the formulas of late Mannerism through a renewed engagement with nature and a strong emphasis on emotion and narrative. In the early seventeenth century his style became more measured, partly in response to the classicising tendencies developed in Rome by Annibale and Agostino, without losing the emotional intensity that remained central to his art. Alessandro Brogi dates this recently rediscovered Flight into Egypt to this phase.

In this small copper, the sacred episode unfolds in close relation to the landscape. The Holy Family is shown beside the boat, while woodland, sky and water open up the scene and establish its atmospheric mood. The silvered surface of the support further enhances its luminosity. The painting also has a distinguished provenance: it was documented in the celebrated Manfrin Gallery in Venice as early as 1794 under Ludovico Carracci’s name, and may be identifiable with one of Ludovico’s Flights into Egypt on copper recorded in important Emilian collections as early as the seventeenth century.