Etching, 207x296 mm, printed on laid paper, applied along the left side to an old backing sheet, slight transverse crease at the height of Giuseppe's eyes with antique paper reinforcement on the reverse, the corners on the right show old traces of paper from the antique backing; third state out of four. The date is to be placed around 1647, during the artist's second stay in Rome. At the top right is written: Printed in Rome for Gio. Dom.co Rossi alla Pace under the sign of Paris. At the bottom left: Con licenza de Superiori (With the permission of the Superiors); in the centre there is a four-line dedication to Luigi Pio, signed by G. Domenico De Rossi; in the bottom right-hand corner the signature: Gio Bened. S. Castiglione Genovese. A fine copy trimmed to the margin. Beautiful image of the Holy Family with shepherds, where, as in several other representations of the Flight into Egypt, the motif of Angels bending palm trees appears, so that the Virgin can pick the dates, thus referring to one of the many portentous details contained in the apocryphal texts relating to the childhood of Christ. See Bonaccorsi C. Florence 1948: in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, Book on the Birth of the Blessed Mary and the Childhood of the Saviour XX, 2, it is said: “Then the little child Jesus, who was resting happily in his mother's lap, said to the palm tree: bend down, O tree, and give my mother refreshment with your fruit”. And immediately at this voice, the palm tree bent its top down to Mary's feet. The engraving plate is kept in Rome at the Calcografia Nazionale. Paolo Bellini p. 99, 100.