Holidays in Egypt - Caravaggio. Canvas, oil. 133.5 x 166.5 cm
The work transfers the viewer during the period of biblical history, when, frightened by the atrocities of Tsar Herod, Joseph, together with the wife of Maria, carry the newborn son of Jesus to Egypt, thereby saving a baby from an imminent death.
The picture is not a religious shade - both Jesus and Maria are presented not in the image of saints. The viewer sees only a caring mother, with the love of a sleeping son who clung to the chest.
Considering the composite composition of the plot, you can easily divide it into two parts - where the sleeping mother and child are depicted, and where Joseph sits. In the center of the picture, as if separating it, it is an angel that performs the musical composition on the violin. The angel as if lulls sleeping, his figure is a symbol of peace and peace, against the background of horror and chaos, from which the family escaped.
The right side of the canvas is distinguished by bright colors: heavenly color on the back background, grass and flowers at the feet of sleeping Mary. And the Mother and Child's image itself transmits a sense of love, tenderness.
The left part of the picture is absorbed by more gloomy colors. Joseph is sitting under a fading tree, his legs are covered from the cold with a bedspread, but still it can be seen that both trampolines are Bosa. Perhaps this is the consequence of hasty flight. The figure of the donkey, with which the journey is made - his eyes look closely at the angel, as if the executable composition stroked him and his.
To this day, the picture causes many questions. The canvas gives the viewer the opportunity to see religious events in the realistic light, where they ascended to face the saints - ordinary travelers, where Madonna is, first of all, a woman and loving mother, Joseph - a caring father, who keeps the dream of a family, and Jesus is a babe, more Whole in need of maternal affection and care.
The only moment idealizing the picture is an angel. His image, which did not occur in this plot, acts as a keeper of family values, which underlie the plot.