Approximately since the XV century the storyline of voyage of the Holy Family from Egypt to Nazareth became one of the most popular ones in the Western European religious art.
Interestingly, it has no evangelical source; it is based upon the essays of medieval authors: Jakobus de Voragine, Pseudo-Bonaventura — a group of authors whose texts were attributed to a Franciscan monk Bonaventura and others. The storyline has a lot of iconographies that differ in the number of characters. In The Holy Family under a Colonnade Virgin Mary with Infant Christ and Saint Joseph are depicted.

Guido Reni fulfilled in total around 35 etchings. The researchers could not explicitly date the sheet The Holy Family under a Colonnade. It is deemed that the craftsman completed it around the year 1610.

Between the columns over Virgin Mary is a relief Moses сuts out water from the rock. This is a rare detail of iconography. Prophet Moses brought up Jews out of the land of Egypt and miraculously gave water to people during his wanderings in the desert. In the Christian tradition Moses is considered to be the prototype of Christ in the Old Testament. The parallel with the acts of Moses enables to see the elements of the storyline Rest on the flight into Egypt in the etching.

The painter, draftsman and engraver Guido Reni was born near Bologna in a family of musicians. At the age of nine he was appointed to apprentice position to the Flemish painter Denis Calvaert who taught him to paint from life and introduced him to the works of the Italian artist Parmigianino. Around the year 1595 Guido moved to the Academia degli Incamminati — Academy for those taking the right path founded by the brothers Carracci.
Around the year 1600 Guido relocated to Rome where together with the painter Annibale Carracci worked over the frescos of Palazzo Farnese. There Guido got acquainted with the works of Caravaggio and Raffaello.

Having returned back to Bologna in 1614, Guido headed the local arts school. Since the year 1617 he totally devoted himself to the creation of canvasses for religious and mythological subjects, and he painted a lot.