Titian's “Rest on the Flight into Egypt” sold at a Christie's auction for more than $22 million this week. An early Titian masterpiece — once looted by Napolean’s troops and a part of royal collections for centuries — caused a stir when it was stolen from the home of a British marquess in 1995. Seven years later, it was found inside an unassuming white and blue plastic bag at a bus stop in southwest London by an art detective, and returned.
It is inspired by a biblical event, when Joseph took Mary and a young Jesus to Egypt after a dream warned him that King Herod was seeking to kill his son, Christie’s said.The colors are luminous and rich, dominated by primary hues such as Mary’s deep red robe and ultramarine-blue cloak.technique, where color is employed dominantly for sensual expressive purposes and as an element of the composition.
In the following centuries, the auction house says, the painting passed through multiple hands, including an English duke and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, and was looted from Vienna by Napoleon’s troops but returned to the city after his fall. Ultimately, it was acquired by John Alexander Thynne, the 4th Marquess of Bath in 1878.