Resting on the Banks of the Tiber

Although this painting is linked with the Gospel subject of the Holy Family's rest on the flight into Egpyt, Delaroche took an individual approach to the composition and the nature of the figures. The dominant horizontal lines repeating the format of the canvas, the symmetrical framing of the picture with trees to the right and the Castel Sant'Angelo on the opposite bank of the river, and of course the figures grouped together in a triangle, all give the composition the balance and harmony typical of works in the Classical tradition. The realistically painted landscape and the way in which the small joys of family life are treated, without sentimental sweetness, although typical of many Salon paintings on similar themes, are here such as to demonstrate the very best of Delaroche's talent.