PITTONI, Giambattista
(b. 1687, Venezia, d. 1767, Venezia)

The Rest on the Flight into Egypt

1725-26
Oil on canvas, 108 x 135 cm
Fundación Colección Thyssen-Bornemisza, Pedralbes

In this painting the figures take up almost all of the pictorial space, the background is quite summary, mainly consisting of sky. Just a few palm trees on the left and some rocks serve to indicate the location of the figures. This is because the viewpoint is an extremely low one, the figures are portrayed as if we are seeing them from some way beneath. This suggests that the canvas was intended to be placed high up, above a doorway, for example, as was common in interior decorative schemes at this period.