Rest on the Flight to Egypt

Baldung is noted for representations of the Virgin Mary, in which he combined landscapes, figures, light, and colour with an almost magical serenity. In this painting the artist transformed the religious subject into a springtime excursion to the country.

This painting is wholly in the tradition of the Danube school pictures of Cranach and Altdorfer while faintly echoing the types in Schongauer’s engravings.