An Angel Telling Joseph in a Dream to Flee to Egypt

This painting is not included in the Bredius catalogue.

Figures or scenes from the New Testament are relatively rare in the works of seventeenth-century Dutch painters. For Rembrandt, however, the Bible was an inexhaustible source of inspiration, providing with him innumerable examples of human joys and sorrows. He depicted his Biblical characters in the prosaic environment of ordinary Dutch people of his time, showing them as protagonists in the eternal human drama, moved by love, anxiety, wrath, treachery, humility or pride.

This picture is a reference to the dream in which St Joseph was warned by an angel to flee into Egypt so that Jesus might escape the Massacre of the Innocents. The Holy family is shown resting in a dim stable; Mary is protected from the cold by a large shawl which she has also folded round the Infant on her lap so that only his tiny face is visible. Joseph, depicted as a clumsy Dutch peasant, is seen awakening from the sleep of exhaustion, dazed by a brilliant apparition which puts a hand on his shoulder as a sign of heavenly comfort, support and encouragement for the weak. The angel is the source of the warm golden light suffusing the whole group.

This painting is one of more than 30 paintings formerly considered to have been authentic creations of Rembrandt made about 1650 that have since been degraded and left out from the Bredius catalogue. However, this painting has a powerful tie to Rembrandt - several authors thought it was the joint work of Rembrandt and a pupil - but the nature of that tie is not understood.