The Flight into Egypt

The Flight into Egypt is an oil‑on‑canvas work by Nicolas Poussin dated 1658. Executed in Rome while Poussin was 63, the painting measures 97 × 133 cm. It was commissioned by the Lyon silk merchant Jacques Sérisier, who died in 1667, and remained in his family until the work was rediscovered at a Versailles auction in 1986. After a contested sale to Richard and Robert Pardo and a subsequent legal battle, the French state acquired the piece for about 17 million euros, a sum raised by the Louvre and the Musée des Beaux‑Arts de Lyon.

The Louvre became the legal owner and, in February 2008, deposited the painting at the Musée des Beaux‑Arts de Lyon, its hometown of the original patron. The work is classified as a national treasure.

The painting was originally kept in the Musée du Louvre before being transferred to the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, where it has been held since February 2008. Juridically it remains part of the collections of the Department of Paintings of the Louvre, deposited at the Lyon museum, the hometown of its original commissioner Jacques Sérisier.

The work was classified as a trésor national by the Commission consultative des trésors nationaux, and in July 2007 the Louvre and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon jointly raised approximately 17 million euros to acquire it, drawing on the City of Lyon, the Rhône-Alpes region, the Louvre's own funds, and more than eighteen patrons including Gaz de France, Total SA, and AXA. It had resurfaced at a Versailles auction in 1986, initially presented as a work from Poussin's studio and sold to dealers Richard and Robert Pardo for 1,600,000 francs before being authenticated.

In 2008 the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon organized an exhibition centered on the painting in the context of seventeenth-century art. In April 2016 it was selected among ten major French works by the Europeana 280 project.

The painting's modern legacy is defined by its dramatic rediscovery and the scholarly controversy surrounding its attribution. After reappearing at auction in 1986, the work sparked a significant debate between British experts Anthony Blunt and Denis Mahon, who disputed the attribution, and French specialists Jacques Thuillier and Pierre Rosenberg, who defended it. This academic conflict persisted until the deaths of the British critics, effectively settling the matter in favor of Poussin's authorship.

In 2007, the work achieved status as a National Treasure of France, prompting a record-breaking fundraising campaign that gathered approximately 17 million euros from public institutions and private patrons to prevent its export. Acquired jointly by the Louvre and the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, the purchase represented one of the most expensive acquisitions ever facilitated by patronage in France. Its cultural significance was further recognized in 2016 when the Europeana 280 project selected it as one of the ten greatest artistic works of France.

Nicolas Poussin's painting, The Flight into Egypt, executed in oil around 1657 or 1658, depicts a pivotal biblical narrative. This work, characteristic of the French Baroque master's classical approach, captures a moment of sacred journey within a carefully composed landscape. It is a significant example of his mature period, illustrating his command of both narrative and pictorial structure.