Professional Documents
Culture Documents
LAST SYNTHESIS
by
MASTER OF ARTS
in the Department
of
Fine Arts
required standard
August, 1969
ii
written permission.
Department of / tAXjlL
The U n i v e r s i t y of B r i t i s h Columbia
Vancouver 8, Canada
Da t e QtcC^Ug^Lt / 7, l^G^f.
iii
ABSTRACT
of spiritual growth..
To Poussin, the Stoic Divine Reason behind Nature became the sign
of eternal salvation offered by God to those who accepted union with Him.
In particular, he.felt that this union depended upon Man*s use of the
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For help in doing this thesis, I wish to thank especially the follow-
my faculty advisor, his assistants and associates; Miss Melva Dwyer, Art
Miller of the Department of German; Mrs. Joan Seiby, Head of the Humanities
Division of the Library, and her assistants; Mrs. Yandle of the Special
I am also indebted to* the staff of the Art and Music Section of
the Vancouver Public Library; my parents for much encouragement and the
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION '(,. . r i .
CHAPTER I. THE BACKGROUND FOR THE LATE LANDSCAPES:
POUSSIN'S LIFE, WORK AND HUMAN CONTACTS 3
CHAPTER I .158
CHAPTER II 179
CHAPTER IV .203
CHAPTER V . .206
Page
TABLES!:: I. PICTURES OF POUSSIN IN POZZO'S COLLECTION 32
INTRODUCTION
saying by the seventeenth century, to the extent that Poussin invested this
depict a view of the world more representative of his century. The grandeur
natural activity. Human beings are apparently puny, i n size although not
and destructive Nature, Poussin shows forth in his final paintings the primary,
between 1658 and 1664, i t i s essential to understand the main events of his
l i f e , particularly his last years, for "one cannot understand the artist
people in Paris and Rome with whom he was connected, whom he served, and
Since his late landscapes are a synthesis of his earlier work, a review
of his development in drawing and painting clarifies his final art. The
work show how the rich fusion of form and content in these paintings reflects
a deeper conception of the nature of his art. This new depth i s related to
his ideas on philosophy and religion, both ancient and of his own time,
CHAPTER I
THE BACKGROUND FOR THE LATE LANDSCAPES: POUSSIN'S LIFE, WORK AND
HUMAN CONTACTS
Aim of t h i s Chapter
contains biographies of the main patrons and friends of his old age.
well shown also i n Chantelou's picture (plate 197) for he described Poussin
a l l his friends of whatever rank with the simple hospitality offered in his-
3
spired to go to Paris for this training i n 1612 by Quentin Varin who visited
Les Andelys that year to paint pictures for one of i t s churches. But a l -
though we know l i t t l e of his activities between 1612 and 1624, Bellori re-
of Raphael and Giulio Romano paintings than he did from formal instruction.^
15
The leve of Raphael remained with him.
His contact with the Italian poet Marino, who was i n Paris t i l l 1623 at
5
16
the French court was most significant i n furthering Poussin's painting career.
Marino lodged him, invited him to Rome, and before 1624 commissioned drawings,
"Marino"' drawings show Poussin's classical tendency i n the economy and clarity
18
with which he treats each incident, for example, Polyphemus, Acis and Galatea.
After several attempts to get to Rome with interim v i s i t s to Florence,
19 20
Venice, and Lyons, Poussin reached Rome, March 1624..
Between 1624 and I63O i n Rome, Poussin advanced his artistic education,
endured personal and professional hardships but met lifelong friends and
familiarized himself with the works of antiquity i n Rome, for one of his best-
known works of this period uses the Meleager Sarcophagus of the mid-second
His early biographers say that among the moderns i n Rome he was especially
impressed with the Flagellation of St. Andrew, by Domenichino, and the Titian
25
Bacchanals, done for the Este family, then i n the V i l l a Eudovisi.
26
His personal hardship was two-fold: poverty from lack of commissions;
27
sickness from which he recovered I63O.
28
Professionally by I63O he was serving a small clientele of amateurs.
this decision apparently./ From before I63O to 1651' he worked under the
aegis of the Cardinal^ secretary, Gassiano dal Pozzo,^ "the most cultivated
wed his well-beloved spouse, Anne-Marie Dughet (d. 1664) i n the Roman church
38
of S. Lorenzo i n Lucina. He settled for l i f e on the Via Paolina (now Via
del Babuino) near the Piazza di Spagna.39
Between I63O and late I64O, Poussin worked in Rome. Here he continued
at that time. Moreover, Pozzo and his friends were undoubtedly aware of the
Blunt believes that' the use of allegory to suggest good moral conduct
and some subsequent reprints, Tasso stated that the stories symbolized the ,
was the governing principle i n the universe and was intended to be i n Man,
cycle of natural growth and decay; l i f e and death in human beings, also under
Divine Reason; Christian resurrection.. In this anthology of Ovid, Poussin
50
personifying the growth caused by the sun. Other figures represent death and
dissolution into earth and water before the change into flowers; for example,
in opposition to the upright Priapus and Flora i s Ajax leaning on his sword
drenched with water from the fountains behind Priapus. He gazes at his own
8
;
s t a n d s H y a c i n t h u s , a c c i d e n t l y k i l l e d by A p o l l o , w h i l e C l y t i e , who l o v e d
52
t h i s p i c t u r e the f i g u r e s a r e metamorphosed i n t o f l o w e r s , a s s o c i a t e d w i t h
53<
C h r i s t o c c u r r e d i n s p r i n g l i k e t h e Roman f e s t i v a l o f t h e F l o r a l i a . Thus
m y t h o l o g i c a l f i g u r e s , i n s c u l p t u r e s q u e forms, p r o f i l e o r f u l l - f a c e , w i t h
the p i c t u r e .
55
Triumph of Pan (''plate 88). H will deal with the f i r s t one only. The
borne Apollo. His association with Bacchus i s made plain i n his.form; except
for the hand bearing the thyrsus he i s copied after the antique sculpture of
the Farnese Apollo (figure 269). The thyrsus i s aligned with the trees to
l i f t s a torch toward Apollo on the right. Below him rests an aged river god..
with the god. Other figures, such as Hercules with the tripod he stole from
Apollo, emphasize that dimity rather than Bacchus. Below Apollo the twin
59
mountain suggests h i s haunt Parnassus. ' So, although Blunt avers that
60
the picture agrees with Lucian's Dionysus. I think Poussin i s interrelating
(figures 64, 65), evidently indicating these were helpful to the dead in the
way.
Poussin's l a s t work. At the same time, he expanded his range of subjects again
70
a f t e r 1633 to include r e l i g i o n and ancient history.. Since Roman Catholic
drop" background just indicates the setting but i t s general silhouette builds
l o g i c a l landscapes.
ings. The f i r s t set (plates 130 to 13.6) finished 1642 i n Paris was for
Cassiano dal Pozzoj the second (plates 154 A0JL60) was done i n Rome 1644,.
73
for Louis XIII. This was from l a t e I64O to September I642. Royal service had
12
intrigues of persons who coveted this honor or who had enjoyed i t , for
example, Simon Vouet. Poussin was also assigned work for which his Roman
experiences had not prepared him properly, for example, frontispieces for
Horace, Vergil; a decorative scheme for the Louvre Eong Gallery; and altar-
supposedly to fetch his wife. He never returned. The royal pension ceased
80
for a time, but those who had compelled him to come to Paris a l l died
between 1642 and 1645? Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu, and Monseigneur
The sacraments upon which he worked from I636 to I648 were a subject
83
rarely represented i n art before this time.. The Reformation of the six-
teenth century had questioned the value of the sacraments for human sal-
God i n imputing to fallen Man Christ's merit.f^' Some sacraments were help-
85;
ful. Roman Catholicism declared the sacraments were the means of grace by
86
altar burns the Paschal candle, indicating Easter Eve, when such a sacrament
87
was administered i n the Early Church,. Poussin used the triclinium^ for the
Eucharist ('plates 131, 159), and for Penance (plates 132, 157) i n order to
rather than to popular liturgy of his period would not have been welcomed in a
word .'Ei'f.' meaning "thou art" i n Greek. For although this indicates the
!/ 1
Christian theme, Christ's statement "Thou art Peter,"' the rock upon which
Me would build his Church,."Erwas also put at the gate of the shrine of Apollo
at Delphi.. In the painting the E"is on a stone monument to the right hand
-
90
draperies, grouped with more freedom but s t i l l parallel to the canvas show
for example, Ordination (plate 158). ' Their draperies are bright spots of clear
92^
red and brilliant gold against the brownish backgrounds.. These backgrounds,
depth of meaning and clarity i n style may be seen by comparing the two
picture plane upon i t s longest side. They respond i n various ways as Christ
with Doric pilasters dimly visible behind the triclinium. Evidently i t only
represents one event because the twelve, disciples are a l l present; the figure
years later has intimations of the washing of the disciples' feet which
occurred before the meal,., by the placement of a basin to the right.. On the
reaction through gesture and expression to what He i s saying, "One you shall
betray me," combining that dramatic moment with the transcendental reality
more amply modelled than those i n the Pozzo picture;; Poussin carefully fore-
shortens those in front so that the composition for Chantelou i s i n the form
clearly articulated; Poussin adds a curtain behind Christ to enhance the drama^
15
94
in which the figures occupy a larger part than i n the Pozzo picture.
In the two sacraments which are set outdoors, Baptism (plates 136,
156) and Ordination (plates 134» 158) Poussin progresses from a simple
the right-hand tomb i s like those outside Jerusalem (figure 271) where
defined forms, he garbs the figures and sets the action in the most
style.. Thus the closer fusion of more complex form and meaning i n the
background with the tiny foreground figures who are the keys to the
a landscape painter.. Between I648 and 1651, while he was doing his f i r s t
Holy Family with the Bath Tub. 1651 (plate 209) * i n Goriolanus., cl647-l651
the belief that Divine Reason i s shown i n the order and harmony of nature as
103
much as i n human virtue.. Poussin's treatment of the Kingdom of Flora..
but scarcely with the high seriousness which the theme warranted. The
Gampanellan philosophy he may also have expressed in his 1631 painting was.
an extension of the natural philosophy of the Stoics. Moving i n Rome and
134
Paris i n intellectual circles who understood antique and Neo-stoicism,
and expressing i t s ideas i n his correspondence, especially as a philosophy of
105
life, Poussin would be satisfying his own tastes as well as that of his
17
clientele by producing such landscapes. This was his artistic intention.
From 1642 until his death Poussin worked quietly i n Rome, living with
108
Bellori says:;
He followed a very regular way of l i f e , for there are many who paint at
their whim and go on for a short time with great enthusiasm, and then
grow exhausted and leave their brushes for long periods, whereas Nicolas
was i n the habit of getting up early and taking an hour or two's exercise*
sometimes walking in the town but almost always on the Monte della
Trinita, that i s to say, the Pincian, which was not far from his house
and to which there led a short slope made pleasant by trees and foun-
tains, and from which there unfolded the most beautiful view of Rome
and i t s lovely h i l l s , which, with the nearby buildings, made i t , as i t
were, a stage set. There he talked with his friends i n curious and
learned discourses. Returning home, he at once set about painting
t i l l midday and, having eaten, continued painting for several hours; and
so he achieved more by continued application than another painter by
practical s k i l l . In the evening he went out again and walked below the
h i l l i n the Piazza d i Spagna , to meet foreigners who used to gather
c 2
after the death of Pope Urban VIIE (Barberini) i n 1644 when the other
Barberini fled, and the new Pope Innocent X was not friendly to Pozzo's
18
11 *i
pursuits. On the other hand, the presence i n Rome from 1658 t i l l after
U$65. of Cardinal Camillo Massimi (unemployed due to the change of pope 1655)
may have helped Poussin in his last paintings, because in 1658 Massimi
112
assumed the role^of Pozzo i n Roman patronage after the latter's death 1657.-
In spite of Massimi s earlier commission for two paintings between
r
113
16A2 and 1645,. ' as well as some landscapes for Pozzo, Poussin's patrons
J
after 1642 were chiefly French. Between 1644 and 1648 he did Chantelou's;
set of the seven sacraments. In the period 1648 to 1651, people like
Pbintel and Chantelou's brother Jean obtained works from him.^"^^ 1651
was the year he completed his last commission from Pozzo."^"^
Between 1653 and his death i n 1665 his patrons for single works
were mainly those who had ordered pictures before, such as Chantelou,
and Jacques Stella., However i t was Nicolas Fouquet who i n 1655 to 1656
gave Poussin his main commission for the decade—the herms for Fouquet's
Seasons, done 1660 to 1664. His last unfinished work, the Apollo and
116
Daphne of I664 was a gift to Cardinal Massimi.-
During the last years of his l i f e , Poussin received adequate payment
for his work, although he did not enjoy the prosperity of his contemporary
117
Claude.. Poussin, however, held an internation^reputation. 1663 testimony
of this i s given i n the journal of the traveller Monconys who accompanied the
young Due de Chevreuse to Rome* Balthasar de Monconys reports the Due wished
to spend his last day i n that city with Poussin, the most illustrious person
and i n organization.
She died when I had most need of her help, having l e f t me heavy with
years, paralyzed, f u l l of infirmities of a l l sorts, a stranger and
without friends (for i n this City there are none of them).1^0
January 1665 as a man who "writes on the works of modern painters and
121
their lives. His style i s turgid . "' It would have been a tactless
time to seek a biography from a dying man wracked with pain to the degree
The admirable serenity found in his last works was attained only
through the most cruel physical suffering.
He: was buried from the church of his marriage, S.. Lorenzo i n Lucina.
Thus /Foussin's mature and late paintings are eloquent testimony to his-
emphasized the basic doctrines of his Church concerning salvation, using the
New Testament for many paintings but reverting to the Old for the Four
The Continence of Scipio... ' But the use of Ovid gradually predominated
until his last unfinished work, Apollo and Daphne; iss a complex meditation
Poussin altered the drama and color of the figure compositions i n the
there i s more calm and less sense of actual action. The* architectural
example.. St.-Peter and St. John Healing the Lame Man (plate 222) contains
a l l these characteristics.
with formal clarity and very cool color i n the 1648 Phocion compositions,
manner and meaning fuse intensely i n the religious and mythological allegory
Paul Freart de Chantelou. Though these men were his chief patrons, others
asked for pictures. The lives of such patrons, especially those who com-
missioned his late work are summarized in the following pages. These were:
Jacques Stella; the Due de Richelieu; Passart;, Pointel;; and probably Charles
Lebrun. Since the Abbe. Nicaise i s suggested as the source for the complex
132
I conclude with Campanella, the Dominican friar whose form of Stoicism is-
this usually patient, devoted French c i v i l servant, less learned than Pozzo,
13Z.
made Chantelou, i n addition, the artist's main patron after 1640.- Born at
Mans, the youngest of three brothers, Jean, the elder and Roland the oldest
who took the surname "de Chambray,''. Chantelou was the son of the chief provost
135
of Maine.. He must have received the usual classical education, for he
appreciated a reference to the eagles on Mount Taurus taken from Plutarch s ,i
136
Moralia-., even although i t was muddled up i n Poussin"s letter.. There are
Chantelou does not seem to have lost employment entirely. However, i n 1645
Master of the Ordinary Hotel of the King, a remunerative post which he lost
142
for a time, but regained by 1657• In 1656 he had married Mme. de Mont-
mort, who had control over the Chateau of the Loir through her f i r s t husband
In these he kept his excellent picture collection, the best Poussin one i n
(plate 197) and the Seven Sacraments (plates 154 to 160;),. each under a l i t t l e ;
150
the Mannai ("plate 128)., a Holy Family (plate 219), The 'testacy of St. Paul
(plate 145) probably a Conversion of St. Paul, now lost, a small wax model of
the Vatican Sleeping Ariadne^(figure 27) and two paintings originally com-
missioned by his wife:'. The Holy Family in Egypt (plate 231) and Christ and
151
the Woman of Samaria (plate 239). Poussin had also done a Baptism (plafre.
171) for his brother Jean, while de Chambray had lauded Poussin i n one of his
23
152
Thus we are given added information into the activities of the artist.. But
we are most indebted to Chantelou for his preservation of the letters, upon
each of which he made a succinct summary.. For Poussin s letters give-us not
l!
current events and art,, but by content and expression permit us to form a
154
picture of the personality of Poussin,.
155
Charles Lebrun.. 1619-1690
This French painter,, who held the positions of First Painter to the
King, Director of the Royal Furniture Factory and the Royal Academy of Paint-
156-
ing, among other posts, lived in Paris on the Rue des Fosses-Saint-Victor..
Tto this Neo-stoic, reason was a set of rules limiting the imagination, not
157
inspiring i t . J
Strangely i t was probably he who commissioned the mysterious
. 158
was connected with his desire to reform the Royal Academy; he used Poussin's
159
It was the classical figure paintings i n which Poussin adopted Raphael's forms
and color closely that impressed Lebrun. He favored the concept of ut pictura
poesis.. as well as classicism, praising the Israelites Gathering the Manna
finished 1639 for Chantelou for its use of classical sculpture, where ideal
160:
of 1659?.
24
good inheritance;; Haskell seems to infer that this was indirectly from
169
there 1655 to 1658 because his policies differed from the new pppe^ Alex-
art patrons., " Bellori reports Massimi visiting the artist's home> although
173'
no date i s given... ' Poussin must have used Massimi's library often between
174
1658 and I664 to help; paint his last works.
An inventory of Massimi's possessions upon his death shows paintings,
25
Valerius Maximus, the Bible i n Hebrew and Syrian and books on astrology.
The drawings were: the self-portrait, the Coloring of Goral,^^ the "Marino""
His library and the collection of Poussin works he owned confirm his
to aid the artist in his final work. He was also free of Church responsibili-
ties.^ It i s possible that his support may have been one factor in encouraging
in his last years, and to have composed his epitaph. According to Felibien,
the Atbe was known by his merit and the understanding he had of belles—
180
lettres."'
A. letter to Felibien from Poussin refers to the turgid style of N who wrote
i s possible that Poussin, using Cardinal Massimi's library and his own
previous reading either decided upon the program of the pictures himself, or
asked Cardinal Massimi's help with it,- or that of Holstenius, Barberini '
librarian.
Michel Passart (or Passard, P a s s a r ) ^
1
According to Bellori
Nicolas worked willingly to satisfy the noble genius of this lord, very
fond of painting anda infinitely learned in this art. '
t
This lord was the Master of Accounts, later General of Finances, who lived
188
on the Quai de l a Megisserie, Paris. Poussin worked for him in later l i f e ,
189
keeping in regular touch by letters now lost.. He commissioned two notable
190 v
Stoic subjects: the Testament of Eudamidas (plate 224) and the f i r s t version
^91
of Camillus and the Schoolmaster of Falerii (figure 173). The puzzling
.192
Landscape with a Woman Washing Her Feet (plate 195) was likely painted for
him. To the patron who also collected many of his works, Claude dedicated
that even i f he did not program the subject of the Landscape with Orion
(plate 237) this allegory was certainly painted with his tastes for Stoic
194
Pointe! 195
made periodic trips to Italy. Bonnaffe' records two to Rome, one^ in 1645/46
This banker from Lyons, settled i n Paris on the Rue St.-Germain,
196 197
when he formed a close friendship with the artist, with whom he corresponded
and 1655, when he came to buy art for himself and the Due de Crequi'. Blunt
199
says his banking took him to Naples, and perhaps S i c i l y .
Feiibien records his passion for Poussin paintings. Pointel
had so great a passion for the works of his friend that very far from
selling them, he did not wish to be deprived of them even for a day-^OO
Between 1647 and 1651 the artist completed twelve paintings for him.
These were*
• Moses Trampling on Pharoah's Crown (plate 165) Between 1642 and 1647.
The Finding of Moses (plate 169). 1647;.
ELiezar and Rebecca (plate 170), 1648.
Landscape with a Man Killed by a Snake (plate 182), I648.
The Judgment of Solomon (plate 199), 1649.
The Holy Family with Ten Figures (plate 208), 1649.
Landscape with Polyphemus (plate 190), 1649?
Self-Portrait (plate 196), 1649-
Calm (plate 193), 1651.
Storm (plate263 J, l651»; original lost; engraving only remains.
Christ Appearing to the Magdalene (see Catalogue R4l)
Landscape with St. Francis (plate 186) no date. 203
of Poussin he will receive i s a better likeness than the one painted for
T>• 204
Poxntel..
+
Blunt believes that the Landscape with the Man Killed by a SnaTce
graving of the town shows that the background resembles i t , while such an
Poussin does not explain an absence from Rome to which he returned June 1
postulates Poussin and Pointel took a t r i p down the coast, not mentioned
to Chantelou because of the jealousy Chantelou had shown over the Rebecca
painted for Pointel. From the iconography of the Landscape with the Man
were quite definite. He also suggests that a Sicilian trip prompted the
PDA
commission of the Landscape with Polyphemus.
207
The Commendatore Cassiano dal Pozzo, 1588-1657
Italian art patrons"' was a hard, reserved and cold man as Bernini caricatured
208
him, i n spite of his European reputation for scholarship. Poussin's
209
months after i t s occurrence.. Thus his long relationship with the artist
home of his uncle, the Archbishop of Pisa. This man was a diplomat, art
211
patron, archeologist and town planner. Pozzo was trained as a lawyer..
By 1609 or 1612 following the deaths of his uncle and the Grand Duke,
212
Cassiano moved to Rome. Between that time and l622 he established himself
;
His younger brother Carlo Antonio and the latter's wife lived with the
219
precious stones, mechanical instruments and rare living birds and plants,
i t i s said. Carlo Antonio his brother was keen on birds, while Cassiano
220
a l l over Europe,, his f i r s t love was Roman antiquity. By his modest income
social l i f e and customs; Roman history and fable on reliefs and triumphal
arches;: ancient statues, vases and utensils;, figures: from ancient manu-
scripts and mosaics, for example, Vergil, and the Palestrina Nilotic scenes
fortunes were influenced by changes i n Roman government. When Pope Urban VIII
new pope Innocent X (Pamfilij) was hostile to his pursuits. In 1655 his friend
Eabio Chigi became Pope Alexander VII. This did not benefit the sick Cassiano
who died 1 6 5 7 . 2 2 5
30
His apparently life-long employment by a Cardinal did not signify
interest i n antiquity and science led to opinions that at that time would
not have been considered correct by his Church,, for example, he was Secretary
of the Eincei at a time when his friend Galileo, also a member, was being
Considering the propinquity of the Holy Office, prudence must have been
hi ai> watchword.
230
avoiding politics.
Although Cassiano patronized scientists, his connection with artists,
231
particularly Poussin, was a major preoccupation of his l i f e . Conditioned
232
by antiquity, he preferred classicist art, which seemed closest to i t to him-
It may have been his interest in ancient religion which prompted his prefer-
ence for Titian, whose Bacchanals were then i n Rome; or he may simply have liked
Although Poussin considered himself "'a pupil, i n hiss art of the house
and museum of the Cavaliere dal Pozzo, "235 +j^ patron helped him most by
e
complete work, the Four Seasons. I66O-I664. Blunt calls this a "belated
gesture on the part of the nobility toward the artist, whose reputation
was now established throughout Europe," by a distinguished figure in
1
239
Parisian society. He was a cultivated man who had a library and a
printing establishment.. In 1656 he: was responsible for the publication
2/0
+
large landscape;, and an ecstacy of St. Paul. These, together with the
Four Seasons were sold to Louis XIV; as part of twenty-five pictures lost in
a wager with the king i n 166% After this, the Due began to collect paintings
241
again, specializing i n Rubens upon the advice of Roger de Piles. Al-
though he was a cultivated man, the Due's other interests seemed primary,
so that he relied upon outside advice for the purchases he made. Therefore
32
TABLE I
APPENDICE
T A B L E A U X D E POUSSIN DANS L A COLLECTION D A L POZZO
(a) L'asteriqne designe une date certaine. Les autres dates sont fondees sur le style ou les
references dans les textes.
33;
pecially concerned with what the artist would paint for him.
for whom Poussin painted most of his la.ie work.*^ He was the most celebrated
244
member of a Lyonnais family of painters,, engravers and c o l l e c t o r s * ' ^ He may
24.5
have inherited a taste for landscape from his father who did these.
24.6
the Jesuit Novitiate, and two retables for the Chapel of St. Germain, but hxsi
f r a i l health interferred with his work. After I64O, he became a. pale shadow
his death, producing his best-loved work, the Pastorale, known from en-
249
gravmgs*.
His work i s cool. It includes a delicate series of childhood games
connected with the children's Bacchanals done by Poussin when he f i r s t
250
a hare loved by Menus because i t can be f e r t i l e a l l the year that Stella was
after death. His niece did an engraving of Stella's Putti Flaying (figure
257) showing one of them holding a Bacchic mask' signifying the terrors of
252
the underworld, I. feel that there are allusions of this kind to birth,
death and resurrection i n the Birth of Bacchus which would have pleased
Stella. As Poussin was a close friend, he would have adapted the painting
to Stella's taste whether the latter made any specific suggestions or not.
253
Stella was a close friend of Poussin as the Correspondance shows.
Felibien preserved fragments of letters from Poussin to Stella, begun
254 255
after Stella's return to Paris.. ' There are also complimentary ref-
saved the correspondence said Stella had a singular esteem for Poussin.
Crucifixion, Moses striking the rock, St. Peter and St. John healing the
lame man,. Venus and Aeneus, and bathing women. Stella had originally owned
;
Rinaldo and Armida i n addition to the Birth of Bacchus and a reclining Danae..
are not stated i n this biography, the items cited offer evidence that Stella
His teacher in science and philosophy was Telesio, who based his ideas on
and plants, together with natural phenomena, for example, rain, was ex-
spiritus., or soul of the world, deriving from the the sun; he connected
the earth with cold and corruption. Interaction of heat and cold pro-
265
habitants
assert two principles of the physics: of things below, namely, that
the Sun i s the father, and the Earth the mother; the air i s an impure
part of the heavens; a l l fire i s derived from the sun. The sea i s the
sweat of the earth, or the fluid of earth combusted, and fused \ri.thin
i t s bowels; but i s the bond of union between air and earth, as the blood
i s of the spirit and flesh of animals. The^world i s a great animal, and
we l i v e within i t as worms l i v e within us.
Campanella's physics i s closely related to Stoic physics from which the
~ 267
Stoics developed their theology, psychology and ethics.. The four Stoic
elements are earth, water, air and f i r e . Earth and water are passive, fire
elements, air chiefly, contain some degree of warmth, even the grossest one,
268
Just as the mind i s the governing principle in the human being, the
Stoics felt that the creative fire giving l i f e , present in the sun, sky or
269
aether could be deemed Divine Reason.. Other names for i t were:: Logos.
270
Soul of the World, Divine Providence, God,, and Nature. So divinity was
3<5
immanent i n the universe, but the universe was not a l l divine. Thus the
271
Stoic psychology and ethics, seeing man with part of the fire i n hiss
mind or soul dominating his body was connected to i t s physics. For man,
supreme good, virtue. The passions are irrational, so they must be controSe'd.
but the Divine Mind knows much more. He therefore accepted the fact that
theological truth was revealed in Holy Scripture and by the Church, who had
281
the last word even i n cosmology.. Erom his theology he believed that
A l l things which separate themselves from their principles by going
from innate knowledge to knowledge derived from outside do so because
they seek some end. Once this end i s attained, they return to their
principles. The end i s twofold; one is known to them;; the other i s
only known to the Prime Cause, which uses them as instruments. Thus
the end sought by water which rises from the spongy earth t i l l i t i s
above the tops of the mountains i s i t s own preservation, dilation, and
extension; but the end sought by GOd i s the irrigation of plants, the
refreshing of the earth, and the draining of the water toward the lower
areas, which are essential to the l i f e of plants and natural things.
Inithe same way, the end sought by the heat of the sun i s i t s expansion,
which leads to the destruction of cold, but the end of God i s the
generation of plants, of waters, of metals, and of animals, within
which heat i s later retained by a will added from outside. Once this
function i s performed, i t s natural will causes i t cheats to rise again
and return to the sun.£82
He thought four things benefitted man, and thus should order his
infinite being. These appear to have been accepted but not stressed
in Stoicism.
the end of the world was being announced not only by the approach of
the sun to the earth, but by a l l sorts of heavenly and earthly anomalies
and c a t a s t r o p h i e s t h e Protestant heresies ^®
His best-known among his many writings are: De Sensu Rerum.. 1620;;
Metaphysica; The Defense of Galileo. 1622; The City of the Sun.: written 1602,,.
• 291
published 1623. Many of these were composed in prison in Spanish-governed
Naples where he was confined 1599 to 1626', f i r s t on charges of conspiracy,
292'
then heresy.. After pleading Pozzo by letters for Papal release^ he came
to Rome;1626 to I634 under the protection of Pozzo*s employer, Cardinal
293' 29/
Francesco Barberini.. Ke helped Pope Urban VIII astrologically. ^ 7
295
When a Calabrian conspiracy caused Spain to demand his extradition, the
pope, obtained the aid of the French Ambassador, Naude* and Patin to transfer
296 • 2 9 7
As Poussin and Campanella were in Rome associated with Pozzo from 1626
to l634» Poussin probably learnt Campanellan ideas straight from the philo-
299
sopher whose motto was "I shall never be silent."' The City of the Sun
emphasized the instruction of youth in science,, most valuable to education,
300
by painting, so that this book would be the one of greatest interest to Poussin.
V
40
CHAPTER I I .
r e l a t i o n s h i p t o Claude L o r r a i n e , t h a t o t h e r c l a s s i c a l seventeenth-century
F r e n c h p a i n t e r o f s i m i l a r renown, l i v i n g i n Rome.
o r s u i t a b i l i t y , connected t o t h e t h e o r i e s o f u t n i c t u r a poesisi
r e a d from t h e conduct o r s i g n i f i c a n c e o f t h e i r ^ c e y ? - f i g u r e s - t o t h e o r d e r
11.
c o l l e c t i v e r i g h t r e a s o n which governed the universe.- T h i s i s what t h e 1
figures in the 1648 landscapes are doing or have done... I can think of no
ideasson the value of painting for instruction could have affected Pbussin's
happened l658/io I664 i n a greater degree because;by then Poussin had fused
Landscape with the Body of Phocion Carried Out of Athens,; I648 (pLate 176)
Landscape with the Ashes of Phocion Collected by his Widow, I648
(plate 1773
Landscape with Diogenes,; 1648 (iplateel88.)
Landscape with a Man Rilled by a Snake. I648 (plate 182)
Landscape with a Roman Road. 1648 (plate 184)
Landscape with a Man Washing His Feet at a Fountain, no date (plate 185)
Landscape with Polyphemus. 1649 (plate 190)
Landscape with a Woman Washing Her Feet., 1649 (plate 195)
Landscape;?with Orpheus and Eurydice. 1650 (plate 191)
Landscape with a Storm. cl651 (plate 263)
Landscape with Pvramus and Thisbe. cl651 (plate I87)
Landscape with St. Francis.- no date (plate 186)
Landscape with Buildings. 1651? (plate 193) (probably the "Calm," a 1
Felibi en says that i n the early Roman years Poussin made studies of land-
scape backgrounds. The art which influenced him f i r s t was that of Titian;
the Campagna and the south-west Italian coast from Rome to Naples^lhe%\
"pihus and the. Hymph Egeria, cl633 (plate 132) and The Virgin Protecting
worked on Leonardo's T r e a t i s e ^ 20
the artist's interest in landscape backgrounds
21
ing he also began matching the color with the time of day as recorded in his
22'
literary source, here Plutarch.. He combined architecture and landscape
43
landscape alone to give ample space for the IsraelitesllCathering the Manna
pyramid i n the Finding of Moses because he was working on the Pozzo Seven
Sacraments. - cl636 to I642. Hbwever, the Ordination (plate 134) and Baptism
Eis return to the patronage of Pozzo, for whom he then painted his earliest
their song.^ -
The three Fbzzo landscapes '^ are; poetic, yet the diagonals
2
connecting the planes parallel to the canvas relate them formally to those
26
of 1648. Two religious landscapes containing St. Matthew and St. John
subjects*.
The^; stress on light and shade came from his use of a bistre wash, a
technique learnt- from Dutchmen in Rome> for example, i n the Aventine (figure
x28
239J. Beneath the dramatic chiaroscuro of this drawing appears the formal
the drawings of Glaude, which show more tonal nuances i n the wash, therefore
29
concern with the details of form beneath the chiaroscuro treatment, for
example, Eive Trees (figure 234)• Finally his drawings of architecture, for
example The Arch of the Goldsmiths (figure 235) firmly define form.
t
antiquity Poussin had sought i n the Seven Sacraments. Nature appears as: she
should be, not as she i s , from the foreground tree to the background support
of the architecture. Diogenes, another Stoic hero was famed for asceticism,
tion; the "keys"' are the figures of Orpheus and the smoking castle. It i s
and Thisbe depict different aspects of nature. Poussin"s letter on the last
shows that he i s working from the landscape to the figures, for he wishes to
depict the effects of a storm. Thesinfluence was Leonardo.. Just as- Poussin
the Israelites Gathering the Manna, so now he varies the face of nature
calm enclosure from his firmly classical and Stoic approach to nature as well
as to painting.
From the 1648 Phocion t therefore, where the figures are the key to the
landscape, Poussin reached Pyramus where the landscape i s the key to the figures.
be shown through Nature, Poussin's experiments had led him to realize the
Stella the year he and Pozzo died. The next year, 1658, Massimi returned to
take over the patronage extended to artists by Pozzo; he did not commission
any late landscapes but was given Poussin"s last mythological allegory, the
Apollo and Daphne, by the artist who found i t impossible to finish -it.before
his death. Like the Birth of Bacchus, i t deals with the order of Creation,
whole work as much as possible.. Natural forms thus properly dominate allegories
between the grandeur of sentient nature and the salvation of man primary to
again to the forms with the richest associative meaning to himself and his
more Claudian, employing his normal method, but new i n Poussin's work.
the middle distance,, often an oval body of water, for example, Poussin's:.
Landscape with Two Nymphs and a Snake.. The landscape around i t i s built
landscapes of I648 to 1651, for example, the Landscape with Orpheus and
Eurydice of 1650. I find that this i s combined with a more sensitive use
most apparent in the Four Seasons and the Apollo and Daphne., the last
Poussin like Claude chooses a specific time of the day. The Four Seasons.
representing dawn,,noon, twilight and night are the best example, but one
can also see early morning i n the Birth of Bacchus and in the Hercules and
changing times of day i n the Four Seasons represent the eternal order and
one?reason for the reddish light. Finally, Poussin's late landscapes express;
the majesty of nature, even more grand than shown by Claude, but in something
37
of the same humility i n which Claude reacted before the Roman Campagna.
47
CHAPTER III
PICTORIAL ANALYSIS
l Landscape with
t Folyphemus. 1649? for Pointel (plates 190, 192a and
Friedlaender colorplate 42)&
2. Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice, cl650 (plates 191, 192b and
Friedlaender colorplate 41)
3. -Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe. cl651 for Pozzo (plate 187)
landscapes,
45)
thirdly, the late landscapes,
12; Apollo and Daphne. I664, given to Massimi (plates 251 to 254 and
Friedlaender colorplate 48)
the dating of the Landscape with Polyphemus^. Mahon, with whom I agree,
thinks i t was painted about 1660. ' I. have also accepted his date of
cl659-61 for the Landscape with Hercules and Cacus^which Blunt thinks
a reasonable alternative to the date of cl655 which i s given i n his
48
5 My catalogue follows his chronology;
Catalogue. I state why I believe
The Birth of Bacchus and the Apollo and Daphne;, although not
Friedlaender's recent book provides some color plates with medium and
size i n inches.^
late landscape i n which the organization may be freer. This has been for
the Landscape with Orpheus and Surydice. the Landscape with Polyphemus,
Medium: o i l on canvas.
of! 1655 recorded by Bonnaffej"agree with Mahon's opinion that this land-
i t was paired with the Landscape with Hercules and Cacus acquired by
Engravings: one.
Copies:, eight.^
Pointel, a close friend and avid patron of Poussin after the mid-1640 s- |:
may have inspired the subject of the painting. Pointel had already received
view of Fondi, near Naples, which patron and artist may have visited together.^
evokes antique associations with S i c i l y which would have been most satisfying
Style 1 This landscape i s organized around the quiet area, formed by a- plain
upon which figures are active i n agriculture. It has complete spatial unity
1
with six small claar mythological figures to the l i t t l e bay with blue
50
mountains i n the background. Behind the area with the tiny figures working
the land are two rocky crags; into the most distant one blends a gigantic
the nearer mountain on his l e f t and a great tree to the right growing out
of the plain. These two forms together with the nearly level plain form a
from the reclining l e f t foreground figure across the plain to the bay; from
the mountain ridge to the bay, where the sea i s . I believe this i s relevant
love story i s i n the rsize and shape of the rocky crags* which have l i t t l e
man i s minute. To top i t a l l , the giant appears fused vlth the mountain.
placed the two protagonists, the giant, Polyphemus, and the nymph, Galatea
figures, particularly the foreground ones, are not too easy to identify.
her beyond the ordinary passions associated with the Ovidian love tale.
The same i s true of Polyphemus, who i s not even looking at her. These
light, which casts a clear glow over the painting. Secondly, i t mutes
the mountains, including the giant on them, giving greater depth to the
51
landscape. Thirdly, i t makes the small mythological figures i n the
subject by the predominant green, but warm and bright through the
bronzes of the land combined with the blue of the heavens. The mood,
Iconography
a staff, and a pipe of a thousand reeds, which he tried to use to win Galatea-.
flocks, many being in the valleys, in the woods, others safe in their cavern.,-
folds. He also speaks of himself having a cave. A l l these are in the picture.
i t s size and the fact that the sun has but one eye, yet sees a l l on earth.
He says "'I fear you alone, 0 Nereid cGalatea^your anger i s more deadly than
14
the lightning-flash." 1
Such a flash belonged to Jove. He then asks Galatea
why she prefers Acis. Now the narrator of this wooing i s Galatea herself who
says "all the mountains felt the sound of his " Folyphemus^ rustic pipings;
f
the waves felt i t too. I, hiding beneath a r-dck and resting in my Acis'
arms, at a great distance heard the words he sang and well'remember them." 1
Well she might, for the Cyclops made no light declaration of love. His-
song ends "For oh, I burn, and my hot passion^ thus scorned, rages more
fiercely within me; I seem to carry Aetna in my fereast, borne thither with
16
a l l his violence. Ardyou, Galatea, do not care at a l l . "
me, she i s Galatea, the personage with the greenish-blue hair, even although
she does not agree with Ovid's description by Polyphemus, "0 Galatea,
whiter than snowy privet-leaves. ;'Her dress is the color of the ocean.
m
She i s not wearing the wreath of reeds used for river nymphs. Friedlaender
also points out that Raphael's depiction of Galatea in the Farnesina fresco
in Rome, which Poussin would assuredly have seen does not show Galatea as white-
skinned either. I do not know about the color of her skin ;jh.: the Carracci
5 3
ancient fresco of the House of Lxvia, which Poussin may have known, Galatea
is i n the sea. That i s where Blunt thinks she i s , in the sea to the right,
nymph's hair color is.to be taken as resembling the reeds around, and there-
of them a l l with f e r t i l i t y .
20
To Friedlaender, Acis i s the youth with the white skin and girlish
a greyish urn, the symbol of a river god, i s beside him, and because Ovid
21
describes him as just over sixteen and beautiful. ' Blunt does not mention
Acis. If one compares the two figures on either side of Galatea, i t seems
As the Ovidian story suggests, the region i s near mount Aetna. There
teenth century. Aetna was the traditional home of the Cyclops, sons of Uranus
(heaveij and Gaea;;(earth) and associated with thunder, lightning and thunder-
island. According to Ovid, Syracuse i s the setting for part of the story
of Proserpina and Ceres, a"bay of the sea between Cyane and Pisaean Are-
«24
took her down to the underworld via the founCtain of Cyane at Syracuse;
4.;
5
Cyane then became a river, upon which floated the girdle of Proserpina,
was. The fountain Arethusa was also involved in this tale, for i n her
escape fom another country via the underworld she had seen Proserpina;
Ovid to be the most famous of the S i c i l i a n nymphs. She holds in her hand a
chain, I think, possibly the girdle of Proserpina. Below her i s the greyish
urn, signifying her transformation into a river, and also her lawful union
29
with the river god Anapis. In her stream the p"apyrus from Egypt flourished,
giving the name Papireto to i£° This would account for her skin being white.
green locks, Vergil says "Arethusa thrust out her golden head; - .." !
However, I believe that the two nymphs have golden hair to connect them
poetically as Ovid did with the Proserpina-Ceres myth. Both these nymphs
one connected with the seasons, suggested i n the plain i n the picture.
The wreaths symbolize the fact they were both married, i n contrast to
33
Galatea.
evoke the city of Syracuse where this myth had a connection, for Bacchus
was attended by .satyrs, and here are two, matching the two nymphs and the
Quite suitably this whole front scene takes place in myrtle bushes,34
55 i
sacred to Venus, for i t was Venus, sitting on Sicilian mount Eryx, sacred to
her, whose desire to dominate the world andjisr anger at the virginity of
goddesses like Minerva that led her to command Cupid to put an arrow through
this story was told by the Muse Calliope, who began "Ceres was the f i r s t
to turn the glebe with the hooked plough share;, she f i r s t gave corn and
kindly sustenance to the world; she f i r s t gave laws. A l l things are the
3-6
gift of Ceres; . . ."' This allusion to Venus might account for the white
Theocritus, we are made to feel that the two protagonists of this story,
of which Galatea i s one, will never unite. But I do not see this i s
the blue-clad nymph who may appear turned away from Polyphemus as he i s ;
not observing her because the two personify two of the Stoic elements,"' .
-Pblyphemus, fire, the most refined one, connected with rational order,
united both would lose their nature. But Galatea's expression suggests
It also indicates why she has two other nymphs around her, both with
over dwarfed man in this picture. Finally i t shows why Acis i s not
necessary here.
They assert two principles of the physics of things below, namely,
that the Sun i s the father, and the Earth the mother; the air i s an
impure part of the heavens; a l l fire i s derived from the sun.
The sea i s the sweat of the earth combusted, and fused within i t s
bowels; but i s the bond of union between a i r and earth, as the blood
i s of the spirit and flesh of animals. The world i s a great animal,
and we live within i t as worms l i v e within us.
56
In t h i s painting Poussin therefore uses mythological figures, such as
Polyphemus, associated with a i r , f i r e and the sun, and Galatea, with 4&e
sea, to indicate the reason for the creative l i f e apparent i n the painting,
and Polyphemus i n the upper part of the picture, framed by the ;trei ~ . '
beside Galatea , d_©§8 not prevent us, from connecting the painting to the
:
primeval ages of man. For they are associated with the seasonal myth
of man i n the Golden ageP~ Perhaps there i s a hint of the bronze age i n the
Appian, the two got married, giving b i r t h to sons, one of whom'was father of
the G a u l s ^ Since t h i s picture was painted for a Frenchman from what had once
been part of Roman Gaul*^ d i d Poussin use t h i s version to express, not only
Medium;: o i l on canvas.
1
1659, by Felibien (IV, p. 66) as tarst, Fe'libien does not say what the sub-
ject of this commission was, and secondly, the preparatory drawing, nov
in the British Museum (CR, IV, p. 47, no. 284) has on the recto a study
Date:- cl650..
History: Bought for Louis XIV in 1685, according to his royal account books.
one i n Paris ^;MSole des Beaux-Arts, entitled The Fonte Molle in the Roman
r
Style: The composition recedes by four planes parallel to the surface of the
very like the quiet centre of the late landscapes. On the far side play
The castle on the l e f t dominates. The largest peak i s to the right of the
This painting lacks the amount of depth, the degree of aerial perspec-
tive, and the complete fusion of planes developed later by Poussin. How-
ever, formal clarity i s gained in several ways. First, the figures are
grouped around the quiet, nearly oval reach of river. Their arrangement,
gestures and gazes cause the eye to move from Eurydice to Orpheus to the
right s t i l l l i f e , and from there through the playing figures to the lighted
emphasizes Orpheus and the castle, leaving the foreground rocks and the
background peak in comparative darkness, except for two white stones on top.
Therefore, light and shadow link planes one, three and four. Orpheus balances
details, for example: twin smoke spires on the castle; twin peaks on the .
mountain; two muses; Orpheus and Euryidice; Hymen and the fisherman;
two groups of figures on either side of the boat in the middle of the river;
twin trunks on trees at both sides. Because "two" i s repeated so much, one:
!
scheme as well as i n details, for example, the bright part of the sky, the
blue lake, a green patch of sunlit grass, figures garbed in lemon yellow,
bright red, gold, maroon and blue. The relation of the color scheme and
such details to the composition will be clear from the iconographical analysis.
There is.? classical dignity through the use of light as noted by Friedlaender.•
But the motifs of the smoking castle and the central figure of a woman re-
coiling from a snake contrast with the seated lyre-player and the smooth lake
this feeling.
The Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice leads to Poussink's late work
phoses J '
life.
5
the myth took place i n Greece whereas the third plane is; a condensed view of
Rome. Thirdly, the condensation i s unusual. Poussin has made the tower of
the Milizie stand near the right end of the Milvian bridge, while he depicts
the Gastel Sant' Angelo at the l e f t end of it;; fourthly, the light f a l l s as
the Castel Sant' Angelo was performed on festive occasions. 1650 was the
Jubilee year i n Rome. Thus Poussin could have seen the spectacle;, and made
in Lafreri's Speculum.^
gory working from the foreground figures to the background mountain. The
the Metamorphoses
Thence through the boundless air Hymen, clad i n a saffron mantle, departed
and took his way to the country of the Ciconians, and was summoned by the.
voice of Orpheus, though a l l in vain. He was present, i t i s true; but
he brought neither the hallowed words, nor joyous faces, nor lucky omen.
The torch also which he held kept sputtering and f i l l e d a l l eyes with
smoke, nor would i t catch f i r e for any brandishing. The outcome of the
wedding was worse than the beginning; for while the bride was strolling
through the grass with a group of naiads in attendance, she f e l l dead,
smitten i n the ankle by a serpent's tooth.
In the centre we see Eurydice recoiling from a serpent. She wears no veil
or wreath customary i n ancient weddings. The daylight coming from the east
13
to the west side of the Tiber on which the Castel Sant' Angelo was located
says this i s the morning after the wedding night. Let us look further at
Eurydice. She i s dressed in pale yellow, like ripening corn. She has just
The naiads are with Orpheus, not with her. She may be Eurydice, but she i s
earth depended.^
a Roman, The yellow he may have used for the wedding i s under the s t i l l life
combine sacred and profane love. But sacred predominates i n idress, xjreath
playing was done at the wedding, not a f t e r i t . So Orpheus i s the one involved
Apollo* god of the sun, Divine Reason, the Stoic f i r e which germinates
Orphic mysteries. The basic beliefs behind these were: l ) earthly conduct
whomr.he scorned,to tear him to pieces; his soul happily rejoined Eurydice,-'-'''
18
His l y r e was put among the stars, I believe Poussin was seeing Orpheus i n
his r e l a t i o n to Apollo as well as to the Orphic mysteries. But the conduct which
caused h i s death also r e l a t e s him to Hadrian, who was buried i n the Castel
Sant' Angelo i n the rear of the painting. For Hadrian lovea Antir.ous, who
Perhaps the one nearest Apollo, facing us i s Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry,
Orpheus'' mother and Apollo"s love.. She i s i n blue, wreathed. The other may
' 19
be Eratoy Muse of Love Poetry, whose symbol was the lyre. She i s maroon, not
wreathed, and turned from us.. I associate Calliope with sacred love, Erato
with profane love. The attention to Orpheus stresses the importance of sacred
Now Orpheus, who had multiple divine associations " i s said to have
taught mysterious truths concerning the origin of things and the immortality
the l e f t i s a fisherman who points to the dark stones and looks at the mytho-
logical scene.
they are together over the yellow associated with ancient weddings, either
with Hymen or with the veil of the bride. The basket of food with the l e f t
pot," a purifying jug are regular wedding accessories. The right container
Holy Family on the Steps (plate 172). It i s located beneath a tree which
divides into two trunks shortly above the base. Beneath i t i s the blue robe
symbolizing the water given together with fire to the bride by her husband
The separation of the red robe from the blue,- equal to the physical separation
on the canvas.
M i l v i a n B r i d g e , C o n s t a n t i n e e s t a b l i s h e d C h r i s t i a n i t y as the o f f i c i a l religion
2 0 A . T H E G I R A N D O L A A T T H E C A S T L E O F S A N T ' A N G E L O
C E L E B R A T I N G T H E A N N I V E R S A R Y O F T H E E L E C T I O N O F A P O P E
The drawing shows the monument just before the extensive alterations carried out
by the Borgia Pope Alexander V I , at the end of the fifteenth century. The bridge-
head across the Tiber is heavily fortified by towers and walls; once across the
bridge one was already in the Castle.
The third of the bridge's ancient arches is covered here by medieval structures.
66
PLATE III
marriage), i n the p a i n t i n g . -
also possible that the smoke comes from the mountains.. The problems ares
tower : were aspects of Rome known by everyone then. Thus- the a l l e g o r y had ani
the a l l e g o r y begun i n the myth. They may w e l l have been the s t a r t i n g point
for i t i n the mind of the a r t i s t who kept and reused the smoking c a s t l e
drawing again l a t e r i n l i f e .
J u p i t e r and Juno had temples on the south summitj the Ave.ntine\ upon which
30
by ^sacraments.
Since the idea of eternal s a l v a t i o n i s i n d i c a t e d by the foreground
68
combined with the" bacground of the painting, the harmony, though ominous, i s
does i n this picture. In-the landscapes such as the Four Seasons, there i s
a deeper fusion naturally expressed between the foreground and the background
transitional painting.
69
Catalogue 177
Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe P l a t e 187
Medium::. O i l on canvas?
(Correspondance, p. 424)
Dating:; cl651.
Metamorphoses of Ovid, which also gives the myth behind the mulberry tree"s
antiquity.
what h i s e x p e c t a t i o n s vrere.
v i e w of h i l l s afeove the l a k e .
modef :
from h i s l e t t e r t o S t e l l a , a p a i n t e r f r i e n d i n P a r i s , s a y i n g
7
F o u s s i n ' s s o u r c e s for. t h i s p a i n t i n g were: the example o f A p e l l e s ;
t h e a r t and w r i t i n g s o f Leonardo da V i n c i , s p e c i f i c a l l y . t h e B a t t l e - o f
^ ' - 8 ;
- Q
A n g h i a r i and the T r e a t i s e on P a i n t i n g ; Ovid's.• Metamorphoses;; P a L j a d i o ; 7
721
in Cassiano"s commission.
description i s not the ommission of the whirling clouds, but the representa-
disorderly, and terrifying they may be i n effects upon .;Nature and Man.
Leonardo's r e l a t i o n of p a i n t i n g to nature was expressed elsewhere i n
the Treatise
i n the Four Seasons, 1660-4 (plates 2*42-245) J, the b e l i e f that from Nature
woe born a l l created things;, the idea that p a i n t i n g was an intense expres-
sion o f the order of the natural world by which man could experience de-
166'5 l e t t e r as w e l l as i n h i s work. -
old a g e . ^
Babylonian Thisbe met her lover at night. She came to the trysting
tree, and departed, dropping her cloak, because she was terrified while
upon the cloak, tearing i t with bloody jaws. Pyramus found i t . Thinking
point Thisbe returned as the picture shows, to find her dead l o v e r , as Ovid
S h e ? spoke:> a n d f i t t i n g t h e p o i n t b e n e a t h h e r b r e a s t , s h e f e l l forward
o n t h e s w o r d w h i c h w a s s t i l l warm w i t h h e r l o v e r s b l o o d .
3
Her prayers , ;
In P'oussin s , !
painting, the trysting tree must be the one ; o n
:
the left of the
foreground, a mulberry.
in the fourth plane, on a hypothetical diagonal with the dead Pyramus,, and
the lion. To the right on the same plane just above.Thisbe i s a shining tomb,
appropriate to the tragic end of the story. Its form was chosen as near-
18
eastern from those outside Jerusalem seen in a pilgrimage record ' because
It is-! the attempt to let natural forms express the laws of nature^, dwarfing
Date:; 1657 .7
Drawing: One in the Fogg Art Museum also, illustrated on page 190 of
Walter Friedlaender, Nicolas Poussin, 1966'.
Engraving: One made from the drawing, not the painting, so that the en-
graver put a: halo about Bacchus" head, and showed Apollo who does not
appear i n the painting. The-upper right group' of Jupiter and Hebe was
Copies: Eight, and pictures on the same subject in six separate sales
curved form of the group around the baby i s echoed twice, once by the back-
ground of vine-cover.ed rocks and trees through which the rising sun penetrates,
and at second time i n the curved cloud formation to the upper right where
angle of figures, standing, sitting, then reclining parallel to the picture ,pl an e
x
7&
and nearest the baby. While they are reacting by gesture and/or gaze to
seems unaware of him. Beyond them a mountain forms the most distant part
of the picture. Slightly above them and the child, Pan plays his pipes
in ai tree.
:
welcome the nex;-born Bacchus.- Those who actually receive him look especially
happy. Mercury who delivers him relates the child to Jupiter and the pipe-
semi-circle about a quiet pool, natural forms interrelate with them. The:;
figures are in or around the pool of water. A rocky, treed cavern behind
them silhouettes their forms, while including one of them. Two natural
devices break the sense of enclosure created by this cavern: the distant
mountain to the right treated with careful aerial and geometric perspective;
the two areas of light,one ofwhich breaks through the trees above the cave.
These devices make the composition more spacious, airy and bright. Sunlight '
Although the cave i s a dull green, the different hues i n varied tones
pearly white brighten the scene. The greenish-tinged flesh combined with pale-
to the warmer, more intense hues associated with the majority of figures.
the sacraments;, i t s t a t e s t h a t a l l k i n d s o f l i f e c o n t i n u e i n an o r d e r l y p a t t e r n
one i n which man has a p a r t i c u l a r share. The main way i n which we know
way.
her. Jupiter sewed Bacchus into his thigh t i l l the child was ready for birth,
13
then'rgave • him to Ino, Semele"s sister to carry to the nymphs of Nysa, who hid:
him in their cave.'. Although Mercury replaces Ino in Poussin"s painting Poussin
follows Ovid in showing the nymphs receiving Bacchus, with Jupiter reclining
in the sky after the delivery, receiving a cup from Hebe,, probably wine.
from her eyes, and raging fire from heaven that has l a i d hold of a king'S3
house, suggest the following tale, i f i t i s one you know., A cloud o £
fire encompassing these breaks into the dwelling of Cadmus as Zeus
comes wooing Semele; and Semele apparently i s destroyed.. But Dionysus
c Bacchus i s born, by Zeus ^Jupiteru , so I believe, in the presence
3
of the f i r e . . And the form of Semele. i s dimly seen as she goes to the
heavens, where the Muses will hymn her praises: but Dionysus leaps forth
as his mother"s womb is rent apart, and he makes the flame look dim, ;
sets the scene beside a cave which is fertile with the ivy over the baby
in the tree.
story beside a pool i n a grotto because in Ovid"s version the tale took place;
"> 16
in a "coppice that would never suffer the sun to warm the spot.. In
19
f o r complex t h e m a t i c o r g a i z a t i o n s as w e l l as f o r i n d i v i d u a l m o t i f s .
s 20
Eeli.bi.en o n l y mentions t h e commission.
t h e f i g u r e s form a d r a m a t i c c o n t r a s t t o t h e i d e a s o f l i f e r e p r e s e n t e d i n t h e
M e r c u r y i s n o t i n Ovid's o r P h i l o s t r a t u s ' v e r s i o n o f t h e B i r t h o f B a c c -
the heavenly fire from the sun which impregnates matter, the earth. Comes just
noteswhat was common knowledge—Mercury was the link between gods and men.
as that of the nymphs who received him, for i n his Mythologia he says
Of Bacchus.
Moreover what ancient fables say about Bacchus i s also connected with
physical matters, when they t e l l that he was nourished by the Nymphs.
For, since the nymphs are the matter i n natural things, they receive
the form and foster i t . For Dionysus cBacchusjis the virtue of the
sun in relation to generation, which performs the function of the male
in the works of nature. Hence they record thath the phallus or male
member was dedicated to him, with those sacrifices which they called
Canephoria.
Of the Nymphs.
But because there i s nothing which i s whole useful, and since the greater
part of food i s not turned to the profit of the body, nor i s the whole
substance of water used i n the generation of animals, but part i s
absorbed into the embryo and part into i t s nourishment—as appears above
a l l - i n eggs—they (the ancients) called those parts of the seed or water
by means of which generation takes .place by the name of the Nymphs.
Hence the Nymphs are called fruitful, and are said to nourish men and
a l l animals and to be the goddesses of shepherds and the presiding
deities of fields. By this they also mean that through them (the nymphs)
matter i t s e l f i s transformed into individual natural things.
He>also saw. Fan as a symbol of the divine and the terrestrial as Pan was
23-
half-man, half-beasti
the myth either appears i n the painting i n - the form of the sun rising
between the cleft i n the trees aibove the cave. This i s a refinement on the
drawing. Poussin suggests here the relationship Campanella had made between
the sun and l i f e i n creation. The-; sun, image of the Deity, contains the
refinement i s the air, Jupiter. So Bacchus, born out of the fire that
the virtue of the sun i n respect to generation. The passive elements with
81
which this virtue unites are signified by the nymphs,, connected with water and;
the earth who assist creation because they nourish Bacchus. Fittingly they
in the sun i s made even clearer by having Mercury, the messenger of the gods,
Since Bacchus i s the child representing the virtue of the sun and since
the sun i s the image of the deity, according to Campanella, Bacchus is-
Campanellan Stoicism, 'For Campanella had identified Christ with Divine Reason
seen in the,Order and Harmony of Creation* Echo, and Narcissus(in watery blue
l a i d flat on the earth) are dying or dead.- They represent the degenerative
presence in the picture. Bacchus.is boto Christ and Stoic Divine Reason, the --
virtue after which Christians and Stoics strive. He i s not only the spiritual
25
nature as well as the personage i n both pagan and Christian thought whose
activity and death led to human salvation ending i n eternal l i f e . This mystery
was represented on the sarcophagi showing Bacchic rites which Jacques Stella
before he died.
82
Catalogue 169
Landscape with Orion Plates-; 237, 238
0> "X' i
Mythoiogia, Lucian"s Haturalis Historiae; ' Campanella's City 'of the Sun»
J
and earth for the shape of the earth in the middle of the picture,,
was inspired by the second rampart of Campanella"s Cltyr of the Sun on which
were popular i n France at that time. They corresponded with Poussin' s own.
!
impassivej as-, she contemplates from the heights of the sky the blind
hunter who,, meanwhile, one day, victim of a ruse, she will k i l l by an
arrow.?
For the detail of Cedalion, the figure on Orion's back, Poussin used
the way to Chios, as Comes suggests, not as Lucian records, however. The
used by Comes. These were: Neptune (Water); Jupiter (Air) and Apollo.
;
Through the combined power of these three gods rises the stuff of wind,
rain, and thunder that i s called Orion. Since the subtler part of the
water which i s rarefied rests on the surface, i t i s said that Orion had
learned from his father how to walk on the water. When this rarefied
matter spreads and diffuses into the air this i s described as Orion having
because this matter must pass right through the air and? ascend to the
highest spheres and when the matter i s diffused throughout that sphere
i t somehow feels the power of fire languishing. For anything that i s
moved with a motion not of i t s own loses i t s power which diminishes as
i t proceeds.
Orion i s kindly received by Vulcan, approaches the sun, finds his
former health restored and thence returns to Chios—this naturally signi-
fies nothing else but the cyclical and mutual generation and destruction
of the elements.
They say that he was killed by Diana's arrows for having dared to
touch her—because as soon as the vapors have ascended to the highest
stratum of the air so that they appear to us as touching the moon or the
sun, the power of the moon gathers them up and converts them into rains
and storms thus overthrowing them with her arrows and sending them down-
ward^ for the power of the moon works like the ferment that brings about
these processes. Finally, they say that Orion was k i l l e d and trans-
formed into a celestial constellation—because under this sign storms,
gales,, and thunder are frequent,13 F
to the sun.
Catalogue 158
Landscape with Hercules and Cacus Plate-24I
Medium: O i l on canvas.
Commission: Unknown.
Russia, i n 1772 along with the Landscape with Polyphemus, the two have
often been paired j . and i t has; been f e l t that they should be dated-together..
Blunt does not agree, for reasons c i t e d under Catalogue 150 entry on
Drawings: none:-;
the composition above a quiet centre, around which other natural forms
v i s i b l e , are ^giaratrrfigures. . One has l a i d low another. There are also two
balance with the relatively pale rocky crag. In the foreground, beside
myrtle, glow four tiny nymphs,•one of whom points to the mountain, while another
regards the withering tree on the l e f t c l i f f . Since the river god- on the
the painting. Water-wanders from the foreground through the quiet river i n
which minute figures are active, punting a boat i n the centre. A distant
l e f t of the t a l l crag.
foreground, the figures who are the main representatives of the Order of
Uature. Thus we must survey the whole landscape into which, like keys, they
are integrated.
It bathes the whole painting i n a reddish glow appropriate not only to the
time of day, but also to the heroic battle which has taken place on the
mountain} Irrational light makes the tiny nymphs i n the foreground shine
the Order of Nature governing Creation besides which individual men appear
History of Rome;^ a> book on ancient Roman religion, perhaps DM. Choul;r
may have been the river god before the Palazzo dei Senatori i n Rome, or the
so-called Marforio i n the same city^' Another was the Cumaean Sybil by
upon which Hercules defeats Cacus. There are also nymphs in the foreground
The story of Hercules and Cacus as told by Mvy and Vergil i s as fol-
lows." Cacus, a giant, who lived i n a cave with a hidden entrance on the
7
Aventine h i l l i n Rome caused the ground to reek with new blood from his
slaughter of the inhabitants,, then ruled by the Pelopppnesian exile,
9 10
Evander, admired for his knowledge of letters. Hercules, who had just
at the f i r s t v s x r a a k - o f dawn, and saw some of the cattle were missing. Those
was combining Vergil's account with Livy's version, because in Livy Cacus i s
Moreover, Livy says Hercules k i l l e d him with his club, which i s what looks
like happened in the picture, rather than the colorful Vergilian account of
in Rome.
86
When the cattle revealed themselves by lowing in the hidden cave, Hercules
The story i s a legend about the founding of the Ara Maxima in Rome,
asawell as the account of Hercules' and Cacus-.!'' battle. But what about the;
foreground figures, and the l i t t l e swimmers together with the boat in the
was a prophetess who acted like:the Sybil before the latter came to Italy.
She informed Evander who Hercules was. Evander addressed him "Hercules,
son of Jupiter, hailj ' and went on to t e l l how Carmenta had prophesied he
1
would join the company of the gods. Hercules:did join them after he had
burnt to death on Mount Aetna;, during this ordeal his immortal part was
119
rescued by Jupiter and admitted among the other immortals. ' Carmenta
appears to be the nymph who looks towards the dead tree-> which symbolizes
death i n other late landscapes, for example, Autumn. I66O-I664 (plate 244).
She has a face like the Cumaean Sybil of Michelangelo's Sistine Ceiling.
The river she i s i n i s the River Tiber, mentioned by Livy, which Hercules
'89
that the other figures are Diana and her nymphs.. When Servius Tullus, a
were following the example of the Asian States who had j o i n t l y b u i l t a temple^
22-
to b i r t h (Ilithyia) 2 3
Ara Maxima
This, out of a l l foreign r i t e s , was the only one which Romulus adopted,
as though he f e l t that an immortality won through courage, of which
t h i s was the memorial, would one day be his own reward,
painting by the withering tree, balancing the mountain,,; and pointed out by
The legend of Hercules and Cacus has always meant this in art as well as in
mythology, '
A l l the figures are integrated into larger natural forms. They act
these immense shapes* The rock-like background may suit Hercules''" courageous;
of the immortals, divine, exercising the. Reason seen in his virtuous conduct*
Hercules may, i n his position in the painting, signify the strength of Divine
Reason in the Natural Order. Such Divine Reason is.; associated with Fire,
as was Hercules, the primal creative active force. Hercules has just been
allegory of Natural .Creation,; signified by the two key figures. The distance;
between these figures increases the pictorial tension^r.for we are meant to look
over the whole natural Creation, in which man in the middle i s minuscule, as
The minuscule men in the middle may, however^ reinforce the idea of the
Golden Age-after the lawless state when men were completely united with nature;
For Evander speaks of a later peace under Saturn, following a time when such
29
Finally Poussin has evoked two myths concerning the origins of Roman
religion, one.the Ara Maxima, set up by Hercules, the other the TTemple to
Catalogue 208
Landscape- with Two Nymphs Plate 24O
and a Snake
MediumJ O i l on canvas?
Felibien (IV/, p.. 6 6 ) who says Poussin did a landscape that year for Lebrun.
:
Dating:: 1 6 5 9 .
Drawings: None.- •
Commission Discussion: I believe that i f Charles Lebrun was the person who
according to such specifications as might have been suggested by Pozzo for his;
which must be connected to a< fetid laker, because the composition shows i t
surrounded by a relatively bare tract of land. The figures in the picture
93
figure not trying to fish i n the lake next to which he i s standing,; as well
as a few other tiny forms on the far side of i t . Thus., composition, figure
disposition, and the presence of the snake combine to suggest the idea of
Iconography:: The theme of this painting may be stated as: i n the midst of
(figure^SDa) and the decipherment of one of the words near the serpent used
2'
in the picture by Athanasius Kirchner.. Kirchner misread the word on the
raosaicSas AANTEC to mean the name of a lake inhabited by water snakes which
1,
poisoned the water and k i l l e d a l l the fish .and frogs." Thus, the lake is;
shown without too much foliage other than grass directly adjacent to i t ;
a l i t t l e figure near i t does not fish;,, while the snake swallowing the bird
is:> the ihdese. to the location. The-two nymphs - are Pous sin s. frequent symbol
,!
for- fertility.- Here they represent l i f e beside which is; death,, the serpent,
also symbolized by the fetid lake i n the midst of many well-lighted trees and
shrubbery.
94
Catalogue 3 to 6
Plates' 242 to 249
The Four Seasons FNP oblorplates 46, 47
for Summer and Winter
Size.; each 118 x,l60 cm. or 46 1/8 x63"' respectively.
Medium: O i l on Canvas.
Commission: Painted between 1&60. and 1664 for the Due de Richelieu
Copies: -
Paintings of these subjects i n a sale described in the catalogue
The next year he sold them to the ling., Advised by Roger de Piles, he
then began to collect works by Rubens.- I f any learned cleric- had a share i n
a> religious or mythological subject, Massimi s role could have^ been practical.
,!
reject the Abbe-iNicaise as having had any hand i n this work,- although he i s
But posterity appears to have? overlooked the weakness, seeing the force and
beauty, for example*. Diderot i n the eighteenth century; Delacroix and Turner
in the nineteenth;; finally Sir Anthony ' Blunt's 1966" appraisal of them as-
1
this is' the Tree: of Knowledge;; in Summer, the cornfield; i n Autumn., another
huge tree; above a-- pool li In Winter, however, a l l the water is-quiet. The
centre i s a waterfall in which a boat upsetsj; suitably the forms are built
may appear to the topography of nature,. For example, in Summer.- the deep
the frontal area of water irom the back.. The centre waterfall i s parallel
to the plane of the picture.- In the same painting the right-hand rocks;
For in the f i r s t appears the Tree of Life,- in the last the evergreen olive,
connected with final Salvation. Even i f these two elements are unnoticed,
because they are against rock, one cannot help being aware of the comparison
between a f l o w i shing tree and one with f r a i l or sparce foliage which occurs
Spies, This device i s a development from the Landscape with Orpheus and
and Winter, i n which man was or could be i n a state of grace through the-
i n which they would appear normally i f i seen from where the viewer i s .
I n Autumn. however, the figures o f the two Spies are the same s i z e as those
of Adam and Eve are so placed that they catch the l i g h t from the l e f t ,
helping to create-a sense of movement around'the tree from l e f t to right up
to the right rock indicates'the deeper meaning that I shall show i s behind;
this painting.
3in the? predominance of the green of the foliage and other vegetation which
makes up most of the painting. Summer is-warm, bright gold, as i f the sun
on the corn were at noon. Autumn has a greyish hue, the figures casting
long shadows not seen in Summer. Winter, the darkest of a l l is; cold gr.ey;-
blue-'. in tone a l l over, a.scene like that of Poussin"s Landscape with Pyramus
and Thisbe of ±6'.% (plate 187) of a storm with a story i n i t located, in time
is-available for this or not,, for example, the foreground figures in Winter.
the Divine Order apparent for man i n Creation, He:signifies his acceptance
of the empirical approach of Leonardo to Nature, made: by God. He; is. parallel
Poussin apparently used many literary, artistic and personal sources :.'
5
for helping the production of this set. The literary ones were: The Bible, J
using Genesis for Spring,, Ruth for Summer, Numbers for Autumn and a combin-
ation of St. Matthew with Genesis for Winters but also making references to
98
6
other parts as-,necessary; classical ..writers including 0vid''s Metamorphoses;
works of the Early Church Fathers, such as Tertullian, whose views were close;
.to the Stoic opinion that Divine Reason was immanent i n Creation, and who
His a r t i s t i c sources were:., the Arch of Titus, with the horses i n the
own v i s i t s to the catacombs, for example perhaps to the Crypt of St. Janu-
1.0.
arius, which associates Christ with the four seasons i n a-paintingf
Michelangelo"s fresco of God separating water from the earth, the source for
13
in St. Peter' s;;
!
Antonio Carraooi"s fresco of the Deluge i n the Quirinale
or a print of± it$;, ^ an illustrated Holy-Land pilgrimage book, such as II
15
Devotissimo Viaggio di Gerusalemme, by, Zuallardoj; books? of the Plantin
16'
Press with their sixteenth-century mark of a vine connected with Christ*.
He could have drawn on the following persons for helpr- Cardinal
17 - v
Massimi and his library;, Lucas. Holste (Hblstenius), the Barberini librarian
18 19
and his employer"s library;; the opinions of Tommaso Campanella.,
Iconography* ' i n the Four Seasons. Poussin relates the Christian-Stoic.
Church, He does this by presenting the Order of Nature in the most obvious
cycles i n which i t occurs:- a) the seasons b) the times." of day. These are
painting. Hanfmann confirms the view that the seasons in Christian belief
their cycle; equalled the Universe. Poussin combined the Renaissance and
art.. 23
and fruitful;; Winter,, awful. Into these he fused the four states of man i n
a new personal way: Spring,, before Han needed any law;,- Summer, the gift
of grace by Christ superseding the law of Moses;; Autumn, Man before this..
grace was given,; living under the law of Moses; Winter, the Last Judgment
24
including final salvation by Baptism.
the New Testament, then to mythology.. Thus Spring ±Si an allegory of the-
original and the final state of man. It is.also a: paean to Apollo, Christ,
25-
or Divine Reason through whom creation occurred^; Summer i s the union of.
Christ with his Church, signified constantly for i t s members i n the Sacrament;
of the Eucharist.. From the Old Testament story of Ruth and, Boa-z, which had
come to signify this Christian meaning, Poussin also relates the painting
story of the Spies bringing back grapes and other evidence to Moses of the
nature of the promised land of Canaan. The grapes used also suggest Bacchus
sarcophagio Finally,; Winter, the Old Testament Flood, which in the New
Testament Isi described as the form of the Last Judgment,, becomes an allegory
of final salvation for those who avail themselves of the sacrament of Baptism..
For the waters of destruction are also those of regeneration,- as this primary,
the division of evil from good by the serpent on the l e f t , for i t i s the
26
Python of the Flood described by Ovid, later slain by Apollo, Divine Reason.
27
On the right,, the evergreen tree, the olive of the f i r s t flood, ' a symbol
no
of hope to .Noah, i s the tree sacred to Athena, Goddess of Wisdom the-
29
move.
Drawings: one i n the Musee Conde', Chantilly, of God the Father probably after
an engraving of the same separating the earth from the sea in the Sistine Chapel
fresco by Michelangelo.
30
Iconography: De:T0lnay^' agrees with me that this painting does not
contain the serpent usually found in depictions of Adam and Eve in the
nakedness,, which i s what happened after they had, under the influence of
the serpent, eaten of the fruit of the Tree;.of Knowledge of Good and E v i l 3 2
which stood i n the centre of the Garden of Eden. i ; think that Foussin,
wishing to stress* the state of Paradise,; l e f t out the serpent, which had
strong connotations of evil for him, as can be seen i n Winter, and other
unless the basically cross shape of the central tree group above Adam and
Eve suggests-.; i t . .
There were, of course, two notable trees in the Garden, The. Tree of
34
Knowledge already mentioned, and the Tree of Life. Poussin follows Genesis
closely i n that there are only two fruit trees i n the picture. By comparing
the fruits of the one on the l e f t to the pomegranates carried by the Spies
35
in Autumn, i t i s the Tree of Life which grows there. From the l e f t comes
creation.. I t lights on Eve, whom Adam so named because she was the mother
of a l l living. ^'
3
Also foreground water and myrtle suggest the generative
102
power of the earth fertilized by the warmth of the sun. God the Father
in the upper right corner, appears to have been taken more from:the Raphael
creation of Sun and Moon than from Michelangelo's fresco, despite Poussin's
33
drawing from i t . Foussin did this because the original source is. more:
closely associated with the meaning of his own painting,, and not, as De.
39
Tolnay suggests,. because the-French preferred Raphael.. He i s paying no
attention to the human pair, but moves toward the sun. Why? It i s
probable that Poussin i s saying that God the father in association with
Christ i s the source of light and life." And'his; Raphaelesque: image; in the;
by its.,association with the Birth of Bacchus-. Nature and man are; combined
theless , the feeling of the light and movement revolving around the Tree
1
of Knowledge of Good and Evil at which Adam and Eve innocently gaze- i s
perhaps more pregnant with the idea of immanent change than any minor-
depiction of a serpent. The cycle moving from the human to the divine;
immortal level i s suggested by placing God the Father on the upper right,
But it' i s certainly the state of man before arylaw was needed, as W i l l i -
41
bald Sauerlander suggested. I. think that this i s confirmed by the
fact that the Tree of Life i s on one side and God and the bright 'mountain
are on the other, so that one cannot say, as i n Winter that one side appears
Drawing:- Poussin may have re-used his cl640>-45' Triumph of Titus-, (figure 179)
:
Iconography: -
The.'richness, of nature i s suggested by the harvesting of the;
corn, the main activity i n the picture. The-;bright, warm light, without.
:
, 42
Felibien says the picture represents-the story of Ruth and Bbaz.
They arrived at the beginning of the; barley harvest. Ruth received permission
came from Bethlehem,, and asked who Ruth was. After the servant in charge
his maidens. He said that when she was thirsty she could" go to the vessels -
and drink what the young men had drawn. After falling on her face and bow-
ing to the ground, Ruth thanked him when she learnt why he would protect
her. B'Oazi told her to come and eat some bread and to dip- her morsel i n the
wine.. In the end, Ruth became the wife of Boaz. From their offspring came:
The picture shows Boaz. questioning the servant about Ruth, permitting
her to glean i n his fields. A l l the figures are accounted for by the Biblical
narrative except for a man driving a team of horses to the far right. Other
accessories, such as the food, also f i t into the Old Testament story.
The: main personages l e f t to right are Bbaz, Ruth and the servant in
Bbaz; points to Ruth, clearly indicating she will become his wife.
Ruth and Bba'z: had more significance by the seventeenth century than an Old
104
Testament wedding. As they were the ancestors of Christ,: in medieval times
Boaz was seen tb represent Christ, and Ruth, his.bride, the Church. Ruth"s.
posture and costume reinforce this identification. She spreads both hands;
Boaz: too has multiple meaning. By dress as well as gesture his; bright
garment connects him to Apollo, or god of the sun, or of Divine Reason,, whom
By the story and his gesture* he is••• connected to Ruth, his.-future bride.
He also seems to bless.the harvest.. This suggests the corn represents; the:
body of Christ. For Christ says "I am the bread of l i f e ... . i f anyone
First, the recession i s the deepest in the Four Seasons set, indicating
with a red robe over a piece of wood with a cross piece, on top of which i s
a scythe. The meal echoes the Eucharist, the red suggests Christ's passion,
Bow the s t i l l l i f e and the figures of Ruth with Boaz are shaded by a
huge tree.. It i s a bit like the Tree' of Knowledge of Good and E v i l in Spring
but there i s no fruit, since i t i s yet summer, and since the fruitfulness of
the earth i s suggested by the corn. The tree suggests the growth possible
105
4.8
Who but a Roman would be driving such a team? His;dress i s just like-
that of Boaz." servant next to Ruth on the right of the foreground. This ;
1
servant now-'takes on another meaning,. His gesture, dress, and spear suggest
recognized Christ as the Son of God, He bows his head to Boaz.—and also
thus to Christ..
antiquity, to the Old Testament Story and to the salvation of Man i n the
Sacrifice of the Mass, i n which the core is.the Eucharist, represented here
Autumn, or The Spies with the Grapes from the Promised Land.
Drawing: A copy of. a lost original for the whole composition (CR, IV,
Iconography: The sombre yet fruitful aspect of Autumn appears i n the barren
landscape in which two men carry a huge cluster of grapes, and in which a
woman plucks fruit from a tree behind them. Cast shadows from the front
Moses is. recorded as sending twelve•• spies, one? from each of the twelve
tribes to "'spy out the land of Canaan."• He instructed them to "go up. into
the Negeb yonder, and go up into the h i l l country, and see; what the land i s ,
and whether the people who dwell i n i t are strong or weak ,. .... " ending
with the exhortation, "Be of good courage, and bring some:of the fruit of
the land,"'
The time was the "season of the f i r s t ripe grapes, , . . they came-to
the Valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster
of grapes, and they carried i t on a pole between two of them; they brought
Israelites because ten of the spies brought back unfavorable reports. How-
ever, Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephuraie-h retorted that
these two men was accepted,. They lived.. The other spies were put to death.
The:Bible does not specify Joshua and Caleb as the men who brought
back the grapes, figs and pomegranates. But this i s not necessary to
back, the evidence of the land flowing "with milk and honey.."'51 The drawing
indicates their principal importance. Although there are two trees in th9
nor is-another lady picking fruit off. the same tree. Even the terrain i s less
enclosed than that of the finished painting, in which Poussin depicts better
the desert and h i l l country through which the Spies;passed. They walk in the
Spies. These are evidence of God"s promise to the Israelites; the: grapes
(from which the sacramental wine of the Eucharist i s made)* combined with the;
of- eternal salvation according to the institution and, promise of Christ. Now
had been drawn by the early Christian writer Clement of Alexandria.. This
writer/saw i n the new life-springing from Bacchus" member after the god's death
a. pagan statement of death and resurrection., Clement also believed that the
52
on a ladder which appears to rise from the grapes. Here this tree signifies
the growth possible through partaking of the Eucharist, the blood as well
because the linen from her basket possibly obscures her vision.. Blunt
blinds her. I. think the cloth makes i t difficult for her to see* She",
saved. Between her and the tree i s a pool. A. tiny background man points
significance, i t may mean the inability of Man to save himself without"; ',
the use of sacraments and without following any law, even that of Moses.
For the Spies are carrying the fruits of the Promised Land through the
the: Jewish people-provided the milieu:- for Him whom Christians accept as-
1
allusions- in the fruits ,., which they are bringing back to Moses. Such an
7
Drawings:. none-j
Iconography:. The five meanings of this painting are: first,; Winter ('this
i s apparent from the lack of foliage on the trees combined with the barren
rocks);,- seconds- Night (this-can be deduced from the nearly uniform dark color-
scheme, which i s like that of the Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe, contain-
ing a story v/hich took place at night, as well as the. relationship of this;
painting to the times of the day indicated by the other three- Seasons:)',;:
third, the Deluge;: fourth, the Last Judgment; f i f t h , final salvation by Baptism.
As, the last three meanings require a longer explanation, there i s ; a separate
discussion of each.
reinforces the:-:many other signs of the Flood i n the painting. These are:
the amount of water in the foreground, with people attempting to save them-
selves; the background water submerging buildings except the Ark on the:: l e f t ;
the evergreen olive tree;; on the right rock;,^ < the Python of the Flood as
J
The suggestion of the Last Judgment comes from references i n the Gospel
The Second" Coming-i's: not only indicated by ,the lightning i n the sky,
110
and Poussin s personal symbol of e v i l , also the Python of the Flood, slain
,s
59
the boat being upturned by the waterfall look as i f they are about to die.
One of them points to the lightning which streaks across the sky from the
left..
he?; appears to have seen these prefiguring New Testament events, for the
In the background there i s the evergreen olive tree which i n winter gives-3
the boa-t parallel to the canvas appear to have reached a place of safety on
the right even although the Deluge i s not over. They are turning away from
the serpent who winds his;way to the l e f t on i t s rocky crag.. The light on
the right side a poetic evocation of the side where stood' the Tree of Life
the man helping the woman and child to safety on the right..
reports-
Ill
Uipnn the cosmological no less than upon the anthropomorphic plane,
immersions i n the Waters signifies, not a definitive extinction, but a
temporary re-entry into the indistinct, followed by a new creation,
a new l i f e or a new man, according to whether the nature of the event
in question i s cosmic, biological or soteriolOgical. From the point
of view of structure, the "deluge i s comparable to a "•baptism," and
11 1
through the Flood was seen as analogous to the immersion and ascent from
Winter, Night, the Deluge, the Last Judgment, and salvation for
the paradox of Spring. In that picture was the idea of an end in the
M e d i u m O i l on canvas
Commission: none. Bellori (p. 444) relates that i t was given as a gift
unfinished i n 1664 to Cardinal Camillo Massimi, because the artist knew he;
could not vrork any longer, and would not be able to finish i t .
Dating: I66O-I664.-
Drawings: Nine out of ten of these are illustrated figures 261 to 268, 271
Engravings: none
Copies: none
around a quiet pool.- The long sides of the oval are parallel to the picture
to perspective..
blue;. Bright primary hues are used in the draperies on the figures.
The ; treatment of. figures places; the protagonists-* Apollo and Daphne:,
on opposite sides of the canvas. Hence one is- forced to view-the whole
:
quiet because the interaction among the figures i s by gaze more than by
compositional structure of the picture around the quiet pool gives, an, im-
iti.
2 3;
have been: Ovid"s Metamorphoses-;:.' Fausanias- description of Greece;;;
- ,;
of:, the divine order and harmony of Creation, especially i t s fertility, under'
the sun; Godls loving desire to save recalcitrant Man by union with him..
;
godj. transfixed with love for the newly seen beauty, does not notice..
. 115
. : :
Between them are nymphs?lying naked on the banks of the stream;, one; of
these wrings;out her wet hair*?
Apollo.- These different tales are a l l welded into one unified composition,
even although not. apparently connected to the main incident.. Even i f one;
reads the main tale in Ovid, Poussin has departed from his own previous
depiction of the subject for Marino in not showing Apollo physically pursuing
the situation, while Daphne cowers frozen with her eyes closed on the
extreme opposite, or right side of the canvas, both i n the front plane, in
'Soke]' Fourthly, a dim figure appears dead at the back of the painting.
Then, finally, the painting i s divided into two" parts. On the l e f t are
shown the creative aspects of Apollo. For example, there i s the most careful
li... Mercury stealing the quiver beside Apollo. Blunt believes that since
9
has used another such theft, for example, the pilfering of an arrow from
Apollo by Mercury when the latter was-a child as a basis for stating the '
fact that the planets borrowed light from the sun. The arrows- of Apollo were;
2.. A Muse? i n blue:-, with an oak wreath, holding on to the oak tree; as she
sits above and behind Apollo. She looks peacefully at Mercury. Blunt does
not identify her. She may be the Muse Calliope;of Epic Poetry,, who vas loved
happy and fruitful^., However, this identification does not explain why she
i s looking at Mercury.
oak.. She looks in the direction of Daphne. Poussin has'adapted her form
have seen in Gbltzius'' book. The coin depicts the figure of Europa,
by Apollo-. This; daughter of Oceanus was associated with oak trees, and the
gold> i s suitable, for honey was' d i s t i l l e d from the oak in ancient times..
for Poussin had by this-time refined his. compositions to the; degree; that
he did not' place the antique forms just as they were into his;compositions,
any/more;than he did with borrowings from other sources. He; has chosen
the Farnese Apollo, I think, because the form was most suited to his' theme:
the order and harmony of the \miverse under the Divine; Reason represented
On his right i s the quiver, but his bow i s not'.in the picture,, unless;
Cupid has i t . . His l e f t arm rests upon the lyre, apparently motioning to
Cupid. Behind him he has-, coiled around the? tree the Python of the Flood, >
13
his f i r s t love.."^ The reason that the tree i s the oak,is not only its-
117-
f e r t i l i t y , but also the fact that until Daphne had been "immortalized" 1
by
15
her change into the laurel,, it', was not connected with Apollo.- I believe
1 (r
caused Poussin to put the oak in the picture so carefully, beside the
17
god of the sun, also the god of reason, prophecy,, poetry, music and medicine..
18
His-, face glows with love, for Daphne, indicating that, as Ovid records,
Cupid has struck him with a gold-tipped arrow, in order to make him love;
her..
of the service Apollo did as shepherd for Admetus, a time during which the
19
animals were especially fertile.. Apollo's dog guards them.
Beyond the herds i s twin-peaked Mount Parnassus, sacred to Apollo
on
and the Muses,, It i s not connected with either side of the canvas.
It may simply symbolize the whole theme of union of two forces essential
direction of Apollo, their faces rosy as i f ui.t\\ a glow from his garment.-
As Apollo- had loved other nymphs happily, i t i s o^uite possible that these:
represent some of them, perhaps Gyrene, who gave birth to the bee-keeper
2-22 '' ' 23
Aristeius, or Clymene, the mother of Phaethon.. But these are-not
identified',. Foussin suggests identifications, a s i n M e l i a , but i s not
absolutely clear about them, so that they can function flexibly as symbols
Oh the physical level, they are symbols of the passive principle connected
with water and the earth, which,, i n unity with the sun, symbolized by
2-4
Apollo, produce a l l created things.. On the spiritual level they represent
118'
Human souls who accept unity with Christ, symbolized by Apollo* because
25
according to Campanellan thought, Divine Reason and Christ were synonymous.
look across at Daphne?we can see that she acts as i f she had been hit by
that arrow already, for she i s dressed like Diana,. She;also clings to Peneus
27
possibly fit., Cupid'.may be using A.pollo s how and an arrow which is-of a
,!
the obdurate human soul,, .Sihano's allegory includes this idea,. Cupid
28
represents divine generation.. Here he is. under the aegis of Apollo..
the Thessalian Vale of Tempe, according t^'Ovid,. ' includes four nymphs? who
cluster about Peneus, Daphne.l's river-god father.. Two of them resemble the
Graces. They are much paler than those about Apollo, and equally d i f f i c u l t
although some distance from him-. It is-as i f they are l e s s aware of what:
these benefits .will mean,, or are persons who have not yet enjoyed them.
I think this would account for the fact that Cupid seems;to be aiming his;
8.. Daphne., on the extreme? right has here eyes closed because she i s determined
not to see' the light of spiritual and physical regeneration centering i n Apollo.
30
• 9.. Hyacinthus is- the dead figure i n the background,,- i t is-believed, because
119
up and down,. Hp. meant a process in which the grossest element earth
became water,, then air, finally fire;. The downward cycle-also existed,
3 2
opposites,, hence.; the sense of division of the picture into two parts>,
grouped around Appllo and Daphne respectively,, and the placement of these
main figures as far as possible from one another across the canvas.
Tb-Heracleitus, the basic union was between fire and water with earth,. He-
33
by lAppllo has creatively united with a water deity who wrings out her hair,
suggesting f e r t i l i t y , and with the nymph Melia, who i s connected with the
the water nymph Daphne^whose opposition Indicates that in the process the
water loses i t s essential nature.. For her refusal \there is-only the
downward path to earth and death, suggested by her father's pointing finger.
120
Said Heracleitus
by Cupid, active i n the area of Apollo.^ He? is-; the earth, inert and!
the spiritual allegory behind it.., Zinano saw Apollo the Sun as the
Image of the" Creator, just as Campanella did. Python Zinano saw as;
associations for himself and his patrons—the artist was declaring that the
grandeur of Gbd"s work for Man w a s e-scpressed not only i n the Order of
Creation,, but i n the active love of Christ for the obstinate human being.
CHAPTER IV
with his Christianity,, then his Stoicism, explaining their fusion in his old
age*
His letters combine occasional warm piety with, sardonic comment upon
ment. But to the Roman Catholic Christian, the sacraments of the Church
are:means of salvation which work no matter vihat the character of the priest
by three things * his marriage and burial from his parish church, 1
2
S. Lorenzo i n Lucina; hiss last will accepting Catholic belief;, his receipt
The pope makes a harvest, and gathers grapes for the Duke of
Parma i n the Duchy of Castro,7
where an archbishop had been murdered. His only written comment on the
When shipping the Extreme Unction he-declared that Chantelou would obtain
9
heart of r e l i g i o n . 1 1
A l l h i s Old Testament themes, except f o r one,, are types
are the major events i n the l i f e of Christ the Savior* the Nativity, the
Poussin was a Roman Catholic Christian. To the Roman Catholic, the sacraments
are the means by which people receive the divine grace necessary to salvation.
12
By Christ's i n s t i t u t i o n and promise they contain the grace they s i g n i f y .
Protestants hold that salvation depends upon the mercy of God i n imputing
13
to f a l l e n man Christ's merit to the believer. Sacraments are important,
but secondary to this "justification by f a i t h ^ and there are not seven of
1
them. Even to the Roman Catholic, two sacraments are especially necessary:
an act of consecrating bread and wine so that the body of Christ i s substan-
For this reason, communion was dispensed to the congregation i n the bread
wafer only. The Eucharist, the core of the Mass, i s seen as a perpetuation
15
work on the Seven Sacraments series to express the basic tenets of his faith.
suggest New Testament salvation, for .example, i n Summer. Ruth and Boaz,
Old Testament figures, represent Christ and his bride, the Church, which
wheat sheaves around her. This was also the symbol of the f e r t i l i t y goddess
them. These mysteries guaranteed everlasting l i f e , just as: did the Christian
sacrament of the Eucharist, i f one made proper use of the grace given through
it.
124
painting. Poussin represents the actions of God for man.' God here;
for Man.
ship between the universe and man, who i s minuscule. In this Poussin would
although the Four Seasons is.an allegory of salvation through the sacraments
c l a s s i c a l writers, and early church fathers.. He-: agreed with them a l l that
125,
17
contemplation of Creation was a source of religious growth and exaltation.
Poussin himself summarizes his final aim in painting not as delight, but
18
as delectation, something which has deeper religious connotations.
graphers and through his paintings that i s i s easy to conclude that Stoicism
workings of Nature, But the ultimate salvation lay in the hands of God, not
could express Christian reality. This change in the value system of the
artist to me explains the form and content of the late landscapes, as well
W$y did Poussin accept Stoicism? Poussin shared with his contem-
was a part of one society under the kingship of Zeus, Divine Reason, farored
20
agreement with the scientific advances of the time. Thus the whole
21
Stoic philosophy was held in esteem i n the seventeenth oentury.
Originating in the teachings of Z.eno in the Athenian Painted
22
times through the writings of Seneca, the philosopher, and Marcus Aurelius,
'&etv3cchment from the outside world, whatever might occur, and the
maxim "follow nature,"^ which meant allying yourself with the collective
has been shown, Stoics saw the world as an organic whole, animated and
and creation. By Roman times the Stoics saw myths, not as false-
hoods, but as hiding kernels of truth about the natural world. Thus
26
mythology for them became allegory.
During the preceding century,vStoic ideas had permeated French
literature i n the writings of Montaigne, Guillaume du Vair and Pierre
27
Charron. These Neo-Stoics inspired the so-called "libertins? or
advanced liberal thinkers, such as Naude, with whom Poussin was in contact
, . 28
in Paris.
B
for thereby
The repose and tranquility of mind which you can possess are good
things which have no equal. 3
for
If you would consider a l l things without passion, they will not ever
rebound upon you within yourself. (italics mine)
3
education and artistic capacity, Poussin was not fitted for large Church
34
put i t
It i s a great pleasure to l i v e in a century in which such great
events take place, provided one can-take shelter in some small corner
to watch the comedy at one's ease.
Apart from his temperamental love of peace and order, because he was in
a sense "in business" for himself, he could share his French patrons.'
Stoic concepts of Man,. anS/or the natural world, which he believes i s governed
ships with friends and patrons, i n dealing with personal problems, or with
CHAPTER V
of his art was a rational process. His religious beliefs fused with his
Stoicism i n his old age. The reasons for this have been suggested. The
result was a deeper and broader concept of what painting was. That this
Torquato Tasso's Discorso del Poema Eroico. with one exception: the f i r s t
Poussin used Tasso neither for subjects nor for theory in his last
4
years. His letter to de Chambray of 1665 declares painting i s
an imitation with lines and colors on any surface of a l l that i s to be
found under the sun. Its aim i s delectation, (italics mine) •*
of nature were the primary source of, true delectation. St. Bonaventura,
who derived his ideas from that Saint explained that delectation was the
deepi delight of the soul in evil or good. A soul in a state of grace would
130
6
delight i n good, become beatified and so be united with God. This was
exaltation as well.
human actions. These were "the only actions worthy of being imitated,"
Poussin's sympathy with the viewpoint of Campanella, who saw the sun as
Poussin's 1665 declaration summarized his ideas on art in the same way as
his late paintings synthesized his earlier work. The definition, which
Man Capable of Reasoning Can Learn." These are items necessary to vision
must have meant the human eye. Of course these elements of vision are
about subject matter, It must be noble and not have taken on any
common quality so that the painter may show his spirit and industry.
It must be chosen so as to be capable of taking on the most excellent
form. The painter must begin with disposition, then ornament, decorum,
beauty, grace, vivacity, costume, vraisemblance and judgment i n every
part. These last qualities spring from the talent of the painter and
cannot be learned. They are l i k e Vergil's Golden Bough which none can
131"
9
description of what a good painting should be. ^ Two examples are: the
1
A painting will appear elegant when i t s extreme elements join the nearest
by means of intermediate ones in such a fashion that they do not flow
into one another too feebly nor yet with harshness of line and colors;
and this leads one to speak of the harmony or discord of colors and of .
their bounding lines.
letter to Noyers.
may be compared with a much longer note entitled On Certain Forms of The
Though copied; from elsewhere, these notes are one source for Poussin's
wrote to Chantelou denying that Poussin had ever written such a book, '* 1
although Poussin had said many times that he would do so. Therefore,
Poussin, nearing death, must have used the opportunity of the 1665
in the Four Seasons and the Apollo and Daphne the "noble subject"
"^judgment i n every part? But the appeal of his art i s to the whole human
being, body, mind and spirit, not just to the mind. He communicates the
poesis. During the middle ages the painter was regarded as a craftsman,
practicing a mechanical art, while a poet was seen as enriching the mind,
painters saw a way out of this dilemma^which lowered the dignity of their
ancient authors* Aristotle i n his Poetics. Horace in his Ars Poetica and
painting was mute poetry, poetry a speaking picture. This * equation was
is painting, so i s poetry." 1
Avidly artists translated i t "as i s poetry, so
and the preparations for doing i t arose out of this apparently simple saying.
style, requiring view from a distance. In the Poetics of Aristotle are also
two ways were possible. There was the manner of Zeuxis, the fifth-century
B. G. Greek painter^ who depicted Helen by selecting the best parts of several
Greek, considered the greatest painter of antiquity, who selected the most
beautiful model available. But the late sixteenth century did not believe
could be used to learn the ideal nature of man to put i t s principles into
19
practice discreetly. A l l artists, Baroque or Classicist, agreed on this.
Poussin, the Classicist, i s said to have maintained the value of Zeuxis 1
20
method; Bernini, says Baldinucci, thought the Zeuxis story was a fable
"because the beautiful eyes of one woman do not f i t with the beautiful mouth
of another. 21
Baroque Bernini retained therefore the Neoplatonic view from
Mannerism that the source of ideal beauty was God, not external nature syn-
22
used to sketch an idea, and intensify and idealize the human action by
classicizing the figures through the use of antique model studies, for
23
example, his Apollo and Daphne, i n which he used the Farnese Apollo.
French Academy, so that these ancient or esteemed masters might give eyes
to the students who would from their prior study learn how to perceive
the beauties of the subject i n l i f e which they were doing.^ But Bernini
himself thought that once the antique was understood, i t should be put to
' *25
one side, just as he did with portrait drawing;; through divine inspiration
he could render alive the portrait oif mythological subject he was depicting
26
in marble. Bernini and Poussin knew the same models; but Bernini
27
Another aspect of the anology drawn between painting and poetry^ from
necessary, said Horace. There arose from his dictum^and the writings of
concept of the painter as a learned man, knowing not only the rules of
perspective and the facts of anatomy, but also widely read in history,
the poets, geography, climatology, the manners and customs of various coun-
and the lives of the saints. The education of Poussin, with access to
of Bellori that Poussin used his working knowledge of Latin together with
his Italian and French to become widely read. There i s also a specific
the lives of Saints Ignatius and Francis Xavier for a subject for the
31
Jesuit Novitiate.
tanceship of learned men. Pozzo and Massimi are certainly examples of them*
vised the orator to do when making a speech. For the end of painting,
poetry and oratory was to instruct by delight. Mythological allegory
was considered the best way of doing this in painting as in l i t e r a t u r e . 32
The aim 6f<instruction was furthered by use of gestures which made the paint-
Chantelou to "read the story and the picture i n order to see whether each
had asked Chantelou to check i n the Manna. For example, the young epitome
of female beauty, Helen of Troy, was not to be shown with withered hands.
of decorum. He conformed to i t .
English d i a r i s t and t r a v e l l e r , John Evelyn, who said that the best painters
"such as Rubens, Poussin and Bernini." It was only l a i d low in later times.
treating mythological subjects, for example, from Ovid, which arose in the
Italian Renaissance and continued from then on, the content and organization
of paintings were also influenced by what was known about ancient painting.
35
Pliny the Elder's Natural History was especially influential. This Roman,
who most influenced Poussin appears to have been Apelles, who refused to do
have painted what could not be depicted: storms, thunder and lightning.
and the Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe. For, according to Felibien
He formed a l l his thoughts on what he had read of the paintings of
the ancient Greek painters 37
This explains not only the many paintings for which Poussin referred
the whole painting. The relationship between music and painting which he
means actually the rule or the measure and form, which serves us in our
productions. This rule constrains us not to exaggerate by making us act
i n a l l things with a certain restraint and moderation; and consequently,
1.3.8
every part." The Modes of the ancients, Poussin continues, were a combination
spectator, for "the ancient sages attributed to each style i t s own effects.
Because of this they called the Dorian Mode stable, grave and severe," and 1
with pleasant and joyous things because i t contained more minute modulations
and "a more clear-cut aspect" than the other Modes, but Poussin also
wars lends itself to this manner." Tragedy i s connected with the Lydian
Modej suavity and sweetness are the characteristics of the Hypolydian Mode,
Poussin's practice of varying the style of his paintings to suit the subject.
secondary, but i t explains why Poussin took such care to vary that
pictorial element, particularly in his last finished paintings, the Four Sea-
sons.
Poussin believed "colors i n painting are a snare to persuade the eye like
the charm of the verse i n poetry." however, as his later letter declared,
picture,in which the subject was uppermost i n the mind of the painter.
method of work
j, He was learned in discourse and always had with him a l i t t l e book i n which
he noted everything in words or i n line. When he was planning some work,
he read carefully a l l the available texts and pondered over them. Then
he made a couple of sketches of the composition on paper c for 'example,
the Apollo and Daphne studiesj and i f he was painting a history, he
made l i t t l e wax figures i n the nude i n the proper attitudes, as he
needed them to represent the whole story, and set them up on a smooth
board, marked out i n squares. Then he added to them draperies of wet
paper or thin taffeta, as he wanted them to be, and equipped them with
strings so that they could take their correct place in relation to the
horizon. From them he painted his works with colors on canvas. In this
process he also often made use of the l i f e , and l e f t himself the leisure
to do so. For he often set to work, and then l e f t off and went walking,
but a l l the time thinking well and pertinently of his work. And so he
regulated his l i f e as seemed to him right and proper for his art. ^°
Bernini who said of Poussin i n 1665 that he was a painter who worked from
his mind.^
What was Poussin's aim i n his last period, apart from his intention
painter had previously written "I shall put forth my efforts to satisfy
140:,
CHAPTER VI
Poussin integrated his Roman Catholic beliefs with his Stoic philosophy
i n his late period. This had four results. First, he deepened his artistic
mythological figures dwarfing men. Poussin's concern was the order and
exaltation to the people who perceived his painting. Fourthly^ the exsquisite
I think of Winter especially. Such paintings have long been admired for their
form although their complex meaning has until lately remained hidden. A
landscape genre.
express divine natural order, he f i r s t built the composition around the tiny
figure whose reasonable virtue was the key to his subject. The most formal
articulate the second plane of the painting. This plane almost enclosed
I664, there appears frequently a quiet area, usually an oval body of water,
2
Orpheus and Eurydice. cl650 (plate 191) i s an early example; the Apollo
and Daphne. 1664? (plate 251 although an allegory of Natural Order using
behind the Natural Order. It remained firmly present underneath the fused
natural forms alone around the quiet centre. This was a better expression
period as i n the Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice. cl650 (plate 191)
Pyramus and Thisbe. cl651 (plate 187). Poussin diminished the architecture
143
because the trees showed the effects of a storm better. The Landscape with
^because the great tree adequately balances the giant whose activity w i l l make
a mountain and a tree on either side frame the giant at the top of the picture,
the Landscape with Orpheus and FAtrydice. cl650 (plate 191) subsides i n the
Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe. cl651 (plate 187) to disappear in Summer.
figures predominate, the Birth of Bacchus. 1657 (plate 236), and the Apollo
and Daphne. 1664? (plate 2-51"). In both these Poussin modifies his figure
water. This relates the figures to the orderly natural cycle which they
represent. Whether Poussin depicts such order and harmony primarily by figures
protagonists a long way from one another. In the Landscape with Polyphemus.
1649? (plate 190),the Cyclops i s i n the upper background fused into a moun-
distance between them compels one to survey the whole picture of ^Mature.
viewer. In the Birth of Bacchus. 1657 (plate 236), the large figures of
the Nymphs with Bacchus in the low foreground are related to the tiny figures
ment of figures since most of the action takes place on the plane parallel to
the canvas, for example Summer (plate 243)» Autumn (plate 244)* Only in
Winter, ('!plate 245) does Poussin break away from this more classical dis-
position.
scientifically accurate in size or shape, for example, the rocky crags in the.
with Hercuie3 and Gacus. ?1659-1660 (plate 241), are unlike the mountains
foreground tree in the Landscape with Orion. cl658 (plate 237),is exagger-
Figures are treated in four ways. Usually men are small compared to
compositions the main figures are usually related to one another by gesture
and/or gaze. The landscapes up to 1660 include a second plane of figures who
in the Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice, cl650 (plate 191), there are
they are active in agriculture. Man is dwarfed by Nature. For Natural Order
\yJhe associations the viewer will make with this will show the artist's intent
tunic drives five or more horses into the wheat fields} in Winter. 1660-1664
The third way in which the figures are treated i s in the relative clarity
appropriate attributes beside the figure. Poussin in his last synthesis >
ing the emphasis on this sort of prop. In Summer. I66O-I664 (plate 24.3)»
Ruth is certainly the prospective Jewish Bride. Boaz indicates this in the
way he points to her. She is gathering corn. But this corn also assoc-
figure who is also the Bride of Christ. Such meanings extend the signif-
icance of the painting to the Eleusinian Mysteries,in which the myth of Ceres
and Proserpina played a part. These were the pagan means to immortal l i f e ,
just as Christ personally, through his union with the Church which administers
the sacrament of the Eucharist, his body and blood, gives the grace necessary
> the viewer by an intensive unity of parts in the painting^ is not far removed
in spirit from the high degree of unity created by his Baroque contemporary,
in the hidden source of light, the dove of the Holy Spirit. This;character-
for example, Apollo i n the Apollo and Daphne. J.664? (plate 251)»or Galatea,
i n the Landscape with Polyphemus. 1649? (plate 190). They seem beyond the
signified. Thus also they express the exaltation i t was Poussin's aim to
Poussin, however, never destroys^ , only mutes the tone of distant forms, for
example, the mountain i n the Birth of .Bacchus. 1657 (plate 236). He varied
light most sensitively to suit the subject, as in the Four Seasons. 1660-1664
adapts the cast shadows from Leonardo's direction. Winter (Night)(plate 245)j
i s a development of the Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe. cl651 (plate 187)^
in the Landscape with Hercules and Cacus. ?l659-l66l (plate 24l), because this
agrees with his literary source. Attempts to match light with the theme, as
in the Birth of Bacchus. 1657 (plate 236)^and Winter. I66O-I664 (plate 245)y
sometimes forced him to use irrational light to define form; -for example,
the l e f t foreground nymph i n the Birth of Bacchus, and the right figures
modelling form and for fitness to theme—-all point to the subject, upper-
the bread o f l i f e . The same painting shows Ruth dressed i n similar hues to
Boaz, her future husband. But she i s a pale shadow of him. This i s suitable
because Boaz also represents C h r i s t , whereas Ruth i s his Bride, the Church.
his father Apollo, for he i s dressed i n red and gold, whereas the paler
lemon yellow o f Eurydice s dress associates her with the earth, the r i p e n -
1
ing corn of spring. From Poussin's reduction of hues, combined with usually
subdued colors we are aware of h i s emphasis on form. However, who can dispute
l i f e to the sombre hue of the whole painting. Secondly, they are suitable
Fouquet i n 1655
Although i t i s said his trembling hand doesn't make his work so beau-
t i f u l , i t i s yet a slander, and he works better than he has ever done
and more precisely, z
CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSION
content, according to his theory of the Modes, he infused his late land-
the art of Poussin's century, was this artist's solution to a major cul-
!
the backbone of his method of work; i t gave him also a tool to express
viction that the border and harmony of Nature was perhaps a better reflection
of the Divine Reason governing humanity than the activity of heroic human
153
beings.
that Poussin not only followed antique and contemporary Stoicism, but was
Our primary documents f o r the connection between the two men are, however,
1639.
s p i r i t u a l progress taken from St. Thomas Acquinas who had e a r l i e r worked out
writing. This i s shown by his letter of 1665 about his art, defining the
Likewise, his late works are a much clearer demonstration of his principle
confused explanation of the concept behind such work which he called the
the artist's early allegorical treatment of mythology as well Las with his
secretary to Cardinal Francesco Barberini. Pozzo, whose home was the cul-
(as Poussin himself declared). Among these was Cardinal Massimi who took
over Pozzo's patronage upon the latter*s death i n 1657. Pozzo was a sun
around which persons like Campanella also revolved. Poussin's final painting,
his commissions; , but through Parisian royal service, I64O-42, Poussin had
enjoyed close contact with Paul Freart de Chantelou, who from the mid-1640's
became, with other Frenchmen, his best patron as well as a firm friend. The
d e s c r i b e d i n t h e f i n a l s e c t i o n o f Chapter I . These b i o g r a p h i e s a r e f u r t h e r
e v i d e n c e o f t h e unusual freedom o f t h i s a r t i s t t o s u i t h i s p i c t u r e s t o h i s
A d i s c u s s i o n o f l a n d s c a p e i n Chapter I I shows t h a t t h e e x p r e s s i v e
genre; t h e i n f l u e n c e o f o t h e r c l a s s i c a l a r t i s t s , from a n t i q u e A p e l l e s ,
o p i n g a b i l i t y t o f i t form t o d e p i c t t h e r e l e v a n c e o f t h e essence o f N a t u r a l
paintings.
ment p e r c e p t i b l e i n t h e p a i n t i n g s o f 1 6 5 0 t o I 6 6 4 was r e f l e c t e d l e s s c o h e r e n t l y
s y n t h e s i s was t h e r e s u l t o f h i s p a t i e n t S t o i c r e a s o n a b l e approach t o h i s a r t ,
This thesis does not answer, the second question in any detail, but does
attempt to deal with the first. Concerning the meaning hidden beneath the
paintings, i t must be remembered that Poussin was not only painting indepen-
dently for a group of close friends, such as Massimi, who understood what he
meant, but that also, like Campanella, he was expressing concepts in advance
of his time. The Church had officially condemned Copernican cosmology after
the trial of Galileo in 1616. Not t i l l much later did men generally come
to regard Natural Order as a source of inspiration. Secondly, in his attempt
to enrich his meaning, Poussin sacrificed absolute for relative clarity.
Thus, most persons saw and enjoyed the surface conceit without carefully
considering the formal construction of the painting to the degree that they
realized that allegory was intended. Thirdly, Poussin's earlier work was
clearly based on the ut pictura poesis concept, a well-defined Italian art
theory. This theory, with many of his paintings, passed to France, where
that Italian dogma provided a firm basis for instruction in the French
Academy. That Poussin had deepened his own concept of painting was unper-
ceived. Thus, inadvertently, Poussin somewhat defeated his own purpose
by the poetry of his late landscape painting. For emotionally, people
responded immediately to their magnificient manner because i t reflected the
intense sincerity of the inner philosophic-religious spirit in which he
created them.
155.
AF Art de France.
BM Burlington Magazine*
Catalogue
Blunt, Sir Anthony. The Paintings of Nicolas. Poussin:
a Critical Catalogue. London:-- Phaidon Press, 1966'-,
Correspondance
Poussin, Nicolas. Correspondance de Nicolas Poussin.
Fublie d'apres les Originaux par Ch. Jouanny.
Sbcie'te de l'Histoire de l M r t Francais, n.s., t.5.
Paris: F..De Nobele, 1911. *
A l l citations to letters and other documents in this work
are given the number assigned by Jouanny;- where page
references occur, they are for footnotes only.
Internati onal
L a t i n American Art and the Baroque Period i n Europe. V o l . I l l of
Actsr Studies i n Western Art of International Congress of the
History of Art, 20th, New York, September 7-12y. 1961.
4;vols. Princeton, N.J.,: Princeton University Press, 1963".
FOOTNOTES
INTRODUCTION
F i r s t p u b l i s h e d 1651.
FOOTNOTES
CHAPTER I
EMR.
1
p.. 172 and colorplate 37.
2-
Sir Anthony Blunt, "Temoinages sur Poussin, Lettres, p. 179, citing
111
^BNP. I, 172.
5
Ibid... I, 8.
p. 9, according to Bellori.
159
12
I b i d . , p . 31, b u t P o u s s i n ' s l e t t e r t o Pozzo.../'. o f I64I,
C o r r e s p o n d a n c e 40, says no s t u d i e s from t h e a n t i q u e were possible a n d unknown
i n Paris i n that year.
1 3
i b i d . , p. 33.
14
Ibid., p. 34.
15
Blunt, "Temoinages sur Poussin," Lettres. p. 184 quotes Felibien,
as saying the Transfiguration ^3y these t w o a r t i s t s ^ was one o f t h e most
beautiful paintings i n Rome.(in V o l . 4 c f h i s work, p. 477)
16
BMP I. 37, 39, 50.
17
Ibid., p. 39.
18
I . b i d . . , p . 45 a n d f i g . 38, p.-44.
19 , •
Ibid.., p. 36; F N P , p. 18, q u o t i n g M a n c i n i i n English translation for
20
Jacques Thuillier, "Poussin, N i c o l a s , " Encyclopedia of World A r t ,
XI, 550., " h i s presence i n Rome i n M a r c h 1624, i s documented." 5
21
BNP... I , 57.
2 2
Ibid.
23
F N P , . p . 18, f i g . 6. T h i s sarcophagus i s now i n t h e C a p i t o l i n e
Museum, Rome. S i r Anthony B l u n t , , "Introduction, ^ I n t e r n a t i o n a l , p. 5
1
Vase, the Aldobrandini Wedding, the Sleeping Ariadne and the Farnese
Seated Apollo. I n J W C I . (1944)» p.. 162, f o o t n o t e 10, t h e s a m e a u t h o r n o t e s
Poussin's i n t e r e s t i n the P a l e s t r i n a mosaic o f N i l o t i c scenes discovered
I63S, a n d m u c h a d m i r e d b y P o z z o .
24
F N P , p p . 18-19. A n d r e ' F e l i b i e n ' ' s s u b s t a n t i a l b i o g r a p h y o f P o u s s i n
appeared i n the E n t r e t i e n s sur l e s V i e s et s u r l e s Ouivrages des plus
E x c e l l e n s P e i n t r e s Anciens et Modernes, avec l a V i e des A r c h i t e c t e s ,
f i r s t p u b l i s h e d P a r i s , 1666-1688 i n 5 v o l s . ( C a t a l o g u e . , p . 185, i t e m 44}
I t s a u t h o r (1619-1695),an h i s t o r i a n a n d a r t c r i t i c , w a s c o n s i d e r e d a s a n
o r a c l e o f good t a s t e i n t h e most b r i l l i a n t p e r i o d o f L o u i s X I V s century.
H e w a s i n R o m e 1647-1649 a s s e c r e t a r y t o M a r q u i s d e F o n t e n a y - M a r e u i l w h o w a s
a m b a s s a d o r t o t h e H o l y S e e . He m e t P o u s s i n , C l a u d e a n d o t h e r Romans o n t h i s
visit. S e e - Y v e s D e l a p o r t e , " A n d r e ' F e l i b i e n _ern I t a l i e (1647-1649): S e s
V i s i t e s V P o u s s i n e t C l a u d e L o r x a i n . " G B A , L I ( A p r i l * 1958), 193-214- F e l i b i n n ,
B e l l o r i r r - ^ J w e l l ^ a s . M a n c i n i a n d Sanb^aTT a r e t h e m a m c o n t e m p o r a r y w i t n e s s e s
o n P o u s s i r f whom t h e y k n e w w e l l .
B N P , I , 58-9.
160;
Thuillier, "Poussin, Nicolas," 550.
27
BNP, I, 55, 99.
28
I b i d . , 100.
according to Sir Anthony Blunt, Art and Architecture i n France. 1500 to 1700.
The Pelican History of Art, Z4 (Harmondsworthr Penguin Books, 1953), p. 160.
BMP. I, 100 reports failure to obtain a second church commission i n 1630.
3
°BNP. I, 73, 77.
31
Ibid., 100-1. Poussin had received commissions from Pozzo from 1624
according to Sheila Somers-Rinehart, "Poussin.et l a Famille dal Pozzo,"
Vol. I, Actes, p. 29.
3.2
Francis Haskell, Patrons and Painters: a Study of the Relations
between Italian Art and Society i n the Age of the Baroque (New York:
Knopf, 1963), p. 4 4 . A biography of Pozzo appears at the end of my
chapter I.
33? • . •
BNP, I, 3.28. A. Dominican f r i a r whose natural philosophy'- appears to be
expressed particularly i n Poussin s late landscapes. A biography of him
,:
BNP, I, 156-7. Among the clients was Cardinal Richelieu for whom
41
Poussin did four Bacchanals after." 1636. I believe that Poussin was pressured
into accepting the summons not only through being a subject of France, but
also because Cardinal Francesco Barberini, related to Pope Urban VIII, 1623-
I644, who was Pozzo's employer, wished "it.
45
Ovid, Metamorphoses and Ovid, Fasti, works of Augustan Rome; Torquato
Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata, editions published 1581 and after with an
Allegoria prefixed (BNP I, 148) and Philostratus, Imagines, another antique
classic, probably, i n the illustrated editions published 1609 on under t i t l e :
Images ou Tableaux de Platte Peinture des Deux Philostrates Sophistes Grecs,
trans, by Blaise de Vigenere, and provided by him with learned glosses as well
162.
47
Ibid., 1 1 5 , 1 1 6 , 1 5 2 - 3 . Poussin's f i r s t patron Marino wrote a section
entitled Musica i n his Picerie Sacre (Turin, 1 6 1 4 ) . It stated that the gods
symbolize Christian figures somewhat imperfectly, for example: Hercules, the.
battle with the Devil; Deucalion. Noah; Orpheus. the descent into Hell.
Marino called them falsehoods applicable to the truth. Likewise Pan, the
Greek shepherd deity, was identified with Christ, the Good Shepherd by
Rabelais and other sixteenth-century humanists. Bacchus, was connected with
Christianity i n several ways. His death, and the source of new l i f e i n his
member carried away i n a basket were seen as symbolic of the idea of death
and resurrection, a legend i n the Vigenere translation notes on the Imagines..
Vigenere.; also saw a parallel between Bacchic mysteries and the Christian
Eucharist. Adonis was seen as a resurrection symbol i n the seventeenth cen«»
tury through knowledge of On the Syrian Godde_s_s ascribed then to Lucian.
^ Ibid... 148.
8
49
In the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Also FNP, colorplate 17-
50
The same series of transformations are described i n Ovid's Fasti as
connected with the Roman feast of the Floralia in May.
5 1
BNP. I, 328.
52
ENP. p. 1 2 6 .
53 : ;
60 T
I, 137. The sixteenth-century mythographer Cartari also des-
cribes i t .
BEP, I , 1 2 2 .
66'-
70
Blunt, Art and Architecture, p. 1 6 2 ;
^BNP., 1, 1 8 9 .
88!
lipid... 188: and Correspondance 109 to Chantelou. "I' am on the
point of beginning a second picture for you, that of Penitence where there?
will be something new;, especially the lunary triclinium which they call
Sigma will be accurately depicted there." Correspondances. p. 272,
1
footnote li, explains that the triclinium was an assemblage of three couches
used for eating in a reclining position i n ancient times.
89
I.bid.. 187..
7
3Ibid... 201.
9Q
91
A, dictum related to Aristotle's comparison of painting and poetry
in his Poetics. Its meaning for seventeenth century painting i s discussed
by Rensselaer Wright Lee, Ut Pictura Poesis: The Humanistic Theory of Paint-
ing (New York:: Norton, 19W\
92?
BNP, I, 155 says the color of the f i r s t series i s cool; FNP
colorplates 29 and 30 of the second series Extreme Unction- and Eucharist
respectively show the color warmth I describe.
93- :
BNP,, I., 15% At this time Poussin was helping to illustrate the
Treatise for Pozzo. It was'published early 1650's.
94-Blunt, Art and Architecture,, p. 167, 243, footnote 217.
95
BNP, I, 204-5 says Poussin's source for such archeological accuracy
:
could have been illustrations in books reporting pilgrimages to the Holy Land,
for example, Giovanni Suallardo, II Devotissimo Viaggio di Gerusalemme-
(Rome, 1587) . '
96
This i s orthodox Roman Catholicism according to the Council of Trent,
1545-1563, which set forth the beliefs of Roman Catholics as distinct from
Protestants.- The Eucharist was defined as an act of consecration of bread
and wine.so that the body and blood of Christ are substantially and wholely
present permanently i n either element. The.Mass, of which i t i s the core, is?
thus a perpetuation of Christy's sacrifice on the Cross. Kidd> Counter-
reformation,, pp. 70-71 and Whitney, Reformation, p. 196'>explain these
doctrines.
97'
FNP, p. 188 and colorplate 4 4 , . in the National Gallery, London.
The especially cool color of this late religious composition may relate to
166
i t s : possible use as part of a monument to Cassiano dal Pozzo who died 1657 v
and was buried i n S. Maria Sbpra Minerva, a Roman church also above the-;
ancient sanctuary of I s i s . I t has been suggested by J.. Costello, i n
Studies i n Honor of Walter Kriedlaender (1965) that St. Mary, whose pose
resembles Bernini"s St. Theresa i s intended to represent also Minerva and
I s i s . Perhaps this would account f o r the yellow and d u l l red predominating
i n her garb, unlike other Poussin pictures of the Madonna. I f J . Costello
i s r i g h t , this painting i s an excellent example of the syncretism so d i s -
c r e e t l y present i n Ordination, and also used i n the Four Seasons.
98
Michael Kitson, "The relationship between Claude and Poussin i n
Landscape, ZK£>. XXIV/ (1961), 142i
9%n the Louvre, Paris. FNP colorplate 33, P'i I64 relates B e l l o r i
says Poussin considered this h i s best work. I t was done f o r Pointel.
I t s symmetrical disposition of action, reaction and emotion i s enriched by
v i v i d l o c a l reds, golds, blues, and greens i n varied tones, a development
following Raphael's Roman period o i l paintings, according to BNP.. I, 2:57.
1 0 0
I h the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. FNP. p, 170
and colorplate 36'shows the same emphasis on v i v i d color i n the red, white
and blue o f the Madonna with the gold on St. Elizabeth. There i s a warm
i n t e r r e a c t i o n between the:Virgin, the frightened C h r i s t - c h i l d and the
amused St. Joseph. Although the Holy Family are seated against a stone wall,
to the l e f t and r i g h t are a lake beyond which appears mixed trees and a r c h i -
tecture, possibly Rome on the l e f t , the Campagna on the r i g h t .
1 0 1
I n the Hotel de V i l l e , Les Andelys.
102L
In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
103'
^BNP, I, 176, c i t i n g Seneca, Be Consolatione ad Helviam 8,
translates "Wherever we s t i r , the two resources which are the f a i r e s t of a l l
attend usi nature, which i s universal, and virtue*which i s our own. Such
was the design,, believe me, of whatever force fashioned the universe, whether
an omnipotent god, or impersonal Reason as a r t i f i c e r of vast creations* or
divine S p i r i t permeating a l l things great and small with uniform tension,
or Fate with i t s immutable nexus? of i n t e r r e l a t e d causes . . . This world,
than which Nature has wrought nothing greater or handsomer, and the human mind,,
i t s most magnificent portion, which contemplates the world and admires i t , are
oui.'- 'own forever." 1
10A y
when he says that only great wisdomr. or great simplicity can exespt a man
from the storms of fortune, which a f f l i c t the ordinary person. He reflects
both the Stoic Seneca and the Neo-Stoic du Vair i n his opinion upon the
stupidity and inconstancy of the masses of people^ expressed i n Correspon-
dance 174 to Chantelou, 1649, and quoted BNP. I, 170, the theme of his Phocion
landscapes.
106
The clientele listed footnote 70 as French bourgeoisie favored
the "peace, order and good government" principle of Stoicism which would!
1
1 0 9
I b i d . . I, 171-2 translating Bellori, be Vite. pp. 435ff.
n
4lbid.
1 1 5
H .askell, Patrons, p. 113* landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe.
ll6
BNF, I, 302; and Thuillier, "Poussin, Nicolas," 553.
117
Colombier, "Poussin et Claude Lorrain," pp. 52-3. A comparison of
inventories of their possessions after death shows this.
118
Ibid.. p, 53; Catalogue, p. 185.records Monconys diary as written 1663-
I664 and published in three volumes at Lyons, 1665-1666 under t i t l e :
Journal des Voyages. Also Pintard, "Rencontres avec Poussin,"pp. 44-45.
119
Correspondance 211 to Chantelou, March 16655. Ibid... p. 465, foot-
note 1 citing Passeri, Le Vite de' Pittori. 1772, translated, reads: "In the
spring of 1665, there came to Rome a close nephew motivated, as much as he l e t
i t seem, by the greedy desire to be the inheritor of what his uncle had ac-
quired,, and who acted so indiscreetly and impertinently that he cPc-ussin^
receiving l i t t l e satisfaction, sent him back to Andelys in September of the
same year." The last will was made September 21, 1665. The nephew was
168
2
8 o r r e s pondanc e 208, November, 1664 to Chantelou.
12=p
Thuillier, "Poussin, Nicolas,"' 553i
1 2
| N P , 1, p. 339, f i g . 262 for example.
125
ENP. p. 193 "Certainly one sees in these four paintings s t i l l the
form and the genius of Poussin, but one also remarks the weakness of his
hand." From the Entretiens. See Appendix I. to this thesis.
12
T h u i l l i e r , "Poussin, Nicolas," 553.
1
125
correspondance - 202.
128
Correspondance. • pp.. 465-466, footnote 2j citing Passeri.
The Will i s Correspondance 212/; evidence of the funeral location i s cited
ibid., pp. 480-481, footnote 1.
129 ,
BNP. I, 161. Generosity conquers physical desire.
130
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
131
Haskell, Patronspp. 112-113.
132/ tt
FNP. p. 193 suggests one of the learned French clerics who frequented,
Poussin"s house during his last years."' I do not know of any other than
Nicaise.
133
Holt, Michelangelo and the Mannerists: the Baroque and the Eighteenth
Century., p. 124. Holt speaks of Chantelou and Noyers remaining i n Rome I64O-
1643. This i s not evident from the Correspondance. B1P. I, 157 says "the
two friends arrived i n Paris i n the middle of December I64O.." 1
134
Blunt, Art and Architecture, p. l65»i Correspondance. p. 336, footnote
1.. I wonder about Chantelou's intelligence. Poussin evidently thouglt him
capable of understanding the Seven Sacraments. Moreover, Poussin's early
letters are repetitive. On Correspondance 56 there i s a Chantelou comment
"this letter i s worth being looked at." :
135
Edmond Bonnaffe', Dictionnaire des Amateurs Francais au Xf*I*I Siecle
e:
144
Holt, Michelangelo- and the Mannerists;, the Baroque and the Eighteenth
Century., p. 124. The Journal was f i r s t published i n GBA'.. XV-XXXT (1877-1885).-
145
Correspondance 56- of l642 comments on this v i s i t .
;
1 5
|NPJ I, 176,
158 ,
Gatalogue 208 reports Felibien as saying Lebrun got a landscape in
1659.
1 5
6NF, I, 357.
160
Ibid., 230.,
161
Haskell, Patrons, pp. 115, 118.
162L
Ibid.. p. 116i
1633
BNP I, 302.
l6
4
Haskell, Patrons, p. 116.
165
Ibid.., p. 115.
166'-
BNP, I, 98-99. Now in'the British Museum, London.
167
M s k e l l , Patrons, p. 115.
168
BNP,. I, 248. These were: Moses Trampling on Pharoah"s Grown
(2nd version) (pi. 166) and i t s companion Moses Changing Aaron's Rod into
a Serpent (pl..l67). Both are now i n the Louvre, Haskell, Patrons, pp.
114-115 describes them as learned, severe with harsh colors and s t i f f rhetor-
i c a l formulae i n the depiction of the drama of the events. PI. 166-depicts;
an incident never commissioned by Fozzo. According to BNP, I, 180, fsatnote
13, the scene was depicted i n the Speculum Humanae Salvationis. as well as
being i n Josephus, of which Massimi had a copy. The transformation of
Aaron's rod i s also connected with salvation because i t symbolizes Baptism,
according to Ambrose, De Sacramentis 4- 1.1, as referred to by"B1R. If* 180,
footnote 14. Such commissions suggest Massimi's taste for the erudite and
unusual. In the late l640's he also commissioned unusual mythological
subjects from Claude, for example, A Coast View with Apollo and the Gumaean
Sybilfc. iccording to Haskell, Patrons, p. 116.
171
169
Sir Anthony Blunt, The French Drawings in the Collection of His
Majesty the King at Windsor Castle (Oxford & London: Phaidon Press, 1945),.
p;. 32 states that Felibien saw the drawings i n Massimi's collection i n his
Roman v i s i t , 1647-49.
170
Haskell, Patrons, p. 117.
171
Ibid.; The Arcadian Shepherds i s the one i n the Devonshire
Collection, Chatsworth; the Midas Washing at the Source of the Pactolus i s
that i n the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Yorl^ according to Catalogue 16'5.
172
BNP., I, 326.
1733
Ibid.. 171.
174
175
•BNP, 1, 207j i n the Vatican library. He deciphered Hebrew as a
relaxation, says Haskell, Patrons, p. 116, while Nuncio i n Spain.
176
BNP II. 119, and footnotes 34, 35.- The Coloring of Coral,
as Bellori calls i t also shows Perseus, Andromeda and Medusa. The subject
i s unusual. It i s related by Ovid, Metamorphoses, 4» 740ff. and
Philostratus. Imagines, i n the VigSnere translation, 1614 edition, p. 261.
Claude painted the subject for Massimi 1673, Liber Veritas 184.
177'
Ibid., 326 reflects the artist's and patron's interest i n
f e r t i l i t y and s t e r i l i t y as appears in one level of the allegory i n
the Apollo and Daphne. Such drawings and paintings were done for
close friends.
178 ,
Bonnaffe, Dictionnaire. p. 230.
179
7
FNP, p. 193,' Walter Friedlaender, "Poussin"s Old Age,"' GBA. LX
(1962), 258jhe names Nicaise offering no proof.
180
Correspondance, p. 456, footnote 4» citing from the Entretiens.
181
Bonnaffe' Dictionnaire, p. 230.
12 8
190
Now i n the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen. Dated by Blunt
on s t y l i s t i c grounds to the period 1654-1665.
191
The painted versions date late 1630's. They are in the Eouvre,
Paris and in a private collection in the same city. The drawing of the
f i r s t version i s i n the British Museum,, London; the painting i s lost.
192?
In the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Ernst H. Gombrich,
"The Subject of Poussin's Orion." BM. LXXXI.V/ (February,1944), 37.-41
1
197
Bonnaffe^, Dictionnaire*. p. 257. The second v i s i t ' i s dated 1665
by BNP, I, 215, footnote 20.
198
BNP, I, 216, footnote 22-'says although the letters are now lost (the
Demasso family had some in the late eighteenth century) references in Poussin's,
letters to Chantelou confirm regular contact.
199
BNP,.. I, 294.
^^Correspondance, p. 358, footnote 1, quoting from the Entretiens,. p.
342 by Felibien.-
201
I suggest that the Landscape with Polyphemus, said by Felibien to
have been painted 1649 was actually commissioned 1655. The evidence is-.
Bonnaffe''s dating of the second trip, coupled with the manner and meaning
of the painting. See Chapter III of this thesis.
202
BNP.. I. 214, 257.
173
2033
Ibid., • 293, footnote 5, a suggestion from Sterling in
Exposition Foussin (Louvre) that this i s the fourth landscape Bonnaffe'
records. He uses Felibien who calls this item Landscape with Three; Monks.
Entretiens. IV, p. 150.
204, 205:>
Corre spondance, I48 of 33 June, 1647 to Chantelou, "You will very-
soon see at Paris one of your intimates who returns from here. He i s one
of those heretics who believes that your Servant Poussin has some talent
in painting that i s not common.-" Chantelou's summary on this letter
1
reads i n part:, "he speaks of the return of M. Pointel, one of the heretics
who loves his work . . .. On Correspondance 172" of 20 June2l649»
m
Chantelou notes "that he has finished one of his portraits and that he
begins the other and he will send me the one which comes out best.."'
In Correspondance 157 of December 22, 1647 Poussin wrote to Chantelou,
"You swear I have served M Pointel with more love and diligence than you.
r ,n
206>
BNP, 1. 286-8, 293-4.
207, 208
Haskell, Patrons, pp. 98, 113, 44, 100.' Peiresc. called/him
"the flower of my good friends."' That Frenchman was running a similar
establishment at Aix, helped, however, by private means,. See Sir
Peter Paul Rubens, Letters, trans, and ed. by Ruth Saunders Magurn
(Cambridge, Mass. :• Harvard University Press, 1955) for information
on Peiresc.
209
Correspondance 22' i s an example of Poussin's form of address;;
ibid. 21 to Carlo A;" dal Pozzo is.Poussin's f i r s t report of his Paris
reception, including the remark made by ai courtier, "Now Vouet has met
his match." IbicU. 22 i s Poussin's more formal report to Cassiano.
1
Ibid. 82 i s Poussin's 1643 Will. Ibid. 199 of December 24, 1657 ""
says "Our good friend M l e Chevallier du Puis cPozzoo i s dead and we
r
230
238
Bonnaffe, Dictionnaire, p. 2 7 4 .
239
BNP. I, 21Si
^ ^ P a r i s , S. Martin.
probafoly because this 1629 work now i n the Louvre, Paris, was one of Poussin"s
most Baroque experiments nearest Bernini's style.
176'
242
Blunt, Lettres, p. 28, footnote 1; BNP, I, p. 429.
243;
BNP... I. 326V
Correspondance. p. 3, footnote 5.
2 5 9
lbid.
2
^°Bbnnaffe.? Dictionnaire. pp. 297-9.
26l
Ibid. The Crucifixion was painted for President Thou; Moses Striking
the Rock i s in England, a different version from M. de G i l l i e r ' s one. St.. ,
Peter and St. John Healing a Lame Man was painted for Mercier of Lyons.
The Hercules and De.ianiera had been purchased by Chantelou; M. de Boisfranc
had bought the Birth of Bacchus, the Ecstacy of St. Paul and Rinaldo and
Armida., President Tambonneau, the Apollo and Daphne. The information here j
cited should be verified with the 1966 Catalogue i f further inquiry into
177
XIII, 981-2.
265
BNP. I.,- 3328.
266'
Tommaso Campanella, "The City of the Sun,"' i n Famous Utopias
of the Renaissance,, p. 203.
2
^ A.„H. Armstrong, An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy, Beacon
7
Paperback no. 149 (2d ed., rev.";; Boston:; Beacon Press, 1949),; p. 120.
268
E . Vernon Arnold, Roman Stoicism (New York: The Humanities Press,
1911),>RP. 173,= 179-181, 194..
26
^Ibid.„ pp. 184-186..
270
Armstrong, Ancient Philosophy, p. 123; and Arnold, Roman ..Stoicism,
Pf. 185..
271
Arnold, Roman Stoicism, p. 185.
272
Campanella, "The City of the Sun,". p.. 202.
273
Bonansea, "Campanella, Tommaso,"-Hew Catholic Encyclopedia. I I ,
1110-1111..
274
Armstrong, Ancient Philosophy, pp. 125-6.
275
Arnold, Roman Stoicism, pp.., 286, 306-8, 312, 316..
276
2 7 7
I b i d . , pp. .127-8..
I b i d . ^ p. 128.
2 7 8
Tommaso Campanella, "The City of the bun " the chief ruler i s Metaphysic.
9
178.
281
McColley, "Introduction," i n The Defense, by Campanella,-. pp.
1
xxxLv, xiv..
282'
BNP, I, 330 and footnote 4 quoting i n translation from
Campanella s Metaphysica. Bk. XVI, ch.. 2, art., i i i , f t . i i i .
1
283
Campanella,, "The City of the Sun," p.. 204. 1
284
McGolley,. "Introduction," in The Defense, by Campanella,
!
p; x i .
28 *?
Armstrong, Ancient Philosophy,, p. 125.
286'
Campanella, "'The City of the Sun,"' p.. 204.
287/
McGblley, "Introduction," in The Defense, by Campanella,
1
p. xx.
2 8 8
T V A
Ibid.. p. xxxvi.
289 ^. T A
292
Bonansea, "Campanella, Tbmiaaso,.^ 1110-1111.,
293
BNP. I,; 327.
2 9
% i s k e l l , Patrons, p. 40 and its;footnote 3,
295
McColley, "Introduction,"' i n The Defense, by Campanella, p.. xj;
BNP, I, 328.
296
BNP >; I, 327-8..
297
I.bid.
298
Naude^ according to BNP. I, 328.
299
White,.-'Tbmmaso Campanella," p. 155. "Eumquam tacebo.
1 Mi
nQj_^y f jfae Sun- does not say that the paintings used myths.
3.00r[Tj ie D
111
saw myths as concealing kernels of truth about the natural world. Mythology
was for- Stoics 'allegory.
-^-Probably also in his earlier mythological allegory as I have suggested.
179
CHAPTER II
%3P, I, figs*. 220, 229. The former contains a rock arch which
Poussin may have adapted for the l e f t rock in the Israelites Gathering the
Manna, finished 1639.- The Golden House of Nero also had frescoes with
landscape i n them.
4/
Iffidj.,, 1, figs.. 227-8, two frescoes by Polidoro in San Silvestro
al Quirinale, Rome. Tiny figures, for example, St. Catherine, appear in
these two religious landscapes.
5'
Ibid... I, 226. Especially the Titan Bacchanals i n the sixteen-
thirties. John Shearman, "Les Dessins de Paysages de Poussin," , Vol. I,
1
237, Poussin's drawing of the Tiber Valley i s said to have been the basis
for the panorama i n the background of his Landscape \jith a Boy Drinking
from a Stream (pi. I47).. There are no whole paintings by Poussin which are
of an existing place.
9
Sheila Somers-Rinehart, "Cassiano del Pozzo (1588-1657)* Some
Unknown Letters. "' Italian Studies. XVI (1961), 44.
10
The second Seven Sacraments series finished I648 show this well.
Ordination (pi. 158) i s a good example of the fusion of an outdoor setting
featuring architecture with the theme.
11
Douglas Bush, Classical Influences in Renaissance Literature.
Martin Classical Lectures, Vol. XIIE~fCambridge, Mass.: Published for
Oberlin College by Harvard University Press* 1952), p. 58.
12
BNP, I, 257 l i s t s most of these. J
Ibid.. I, 313-, 316, 332.
14
Kitson, "The Relationship between Claude and Poussin i n Landscape," 1
p. 145.
15 /
Sir Anthony Blunt, "Temoinages sur Poussin." Lettres. p. 176..
!
16''
Somers-Rinehart, "Cassiano del Pozzo (1588-1657): Some Unknown
Lett9ars,J pi. 44. The subject -. o£ the; fragment i n uncertain^^Ibid., p.- 45.
,r 1
18
I b i d ; p i 43..- "'son di parere di fargliene far due di mano di Monsu
Pusino, venendo questi stimati superiori di maniera alia di Filippo e;
etiandio di Pauolo Brillo, saranno di spesa dai quindici in venti scudi
l'uno, della misura delle prospettive.." Galli's collection i s not recorded
1
ways 1635 to I64O:: Poussin learnt about light and shadow as seen in the
Eucharist (pi. 131)H movements described by Leonardo appear i n the Pyrrhus
(pi. 112} and the Israelites (pi. 128) i s Poussin's f i r s t attempt to use
Leonardesque gesture to express emotion. It i s not until 1651 that Poussin
applied the Treatise to the Pyramus and Thisbe landscape for Pozzo. But
Leonardo's empiral views together with his relation between nature and God
may have influenced Pbussin's late treatment of landscape. See Chapter III
of this thesis under Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe for a discussion of
this point.
21
Denis Mahon, "Reflexions sur l e Paysages de Poussin,'" AF, I (1961),
119.
22,:
BNP., I. 270.. Ibid...I,272;.
23
24
Correspondance 120..
181
25
BNP, 1, 272. These were: Landscape with Travellers Resting;
Landscape with a Boy Brinking from a Stream;; Landscape with a Man Pursued
by a Snake (pis. 146-148)
26,"
Blunt, "The Heroic and the Ideal Landscape in the Work of Nicolas
Poussin," p. 156..
1
27
Ibid.
28
BNP I, 280..
29
John Shearman, "Les Dessins de Paysages de Poussin,"' pp.. 180-1.
30
Blunt, "The Heroic and the Ideal Landscape in the Work of Nicolas
Poussin," p. 158 explains the story of Phocion, itssprobable political
1
• CHAPTER III
^Catalogue;, 175.
4-I.bid. 158
5
Sir Anthony Blunt, The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: a Critical
Catalogue (London: Phaidon, 1966)
6
Ibid.
2
BNP, I, 341.
3, 4
1 5
I b i d . 13. 785-8..
16
i^-* 13. 867-869.
184
18
BNP, I, 299.
19
Ovid. Metamorphoses. 13. 789.
20
FNP, pp. 182, 184-5.
21
Ovid. Metamorphoses. 13. 753-4-
L u i g i Bernabb Brea, Musees et Monuments de S i c i l e : Museums and
2 2
23
Charles M i l s Gayley, The C l a s s i c Myths i n English Literature and A r t ,
based o r i g i n a l l y on Buifinch's "Age of Fable*" (1885), accompanied by an
i n t e r p r e t a t i v e and i l l u s t r a t i v e commentary \Mw ed., rev. and enl. ; New York:
B l a i s d e l l , 1911), p. 4.
24
Ovid. Metamorphoses. 5. 409-18.
25
Ibid. 5. l i n e 642 c a l l s Ceres goddess of f e r t i l i t y .
26
Ibid. 5. 407-8.
2 7
I b i d . 5. 412.
28
l e n i s Mahon, "Reflexions sur l e s Paysages de Poussin.'TAF. I (1961),
p. 124 gives a colorplate d e t a i l of the central nymphs.
29
FNP, p. 184; Ovid, Metamorphoses. 5. 417-18..
30
Edward A.Freeman, The History of S i c i l y from the E a r l i e s t Times,
Vol. I, The Native Nations: The Phceiician and Greek Settlements (Oxford:.
Clarendon Press, 189l), p, 365; also S i r Edward Maunde Thomson and others,
"Papyrus," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1967, XVII, 298.
31
Raymond V. Schoder, Masterpieces of Greek Art (2d ed, rev. ; Greenwich,
Conn.: New York Graphic Society, pp. 61-62; s ]_ footnote 13.
ee a s o m y
32
V e r g i l . GeoEgics. 4. 420-1.
33
Ovid. Metamorphoses 5. Livy. Ab Urbe Condita L i b r i . 24. 6.
"^Harold N. Moldenke and Alma L. Moldenke, Plants of the Bible (Waltham,
Mass.: Chronica Botanica, 1952), pp. 142, 144«
3 6
I b i d . 5. 340-5.
^°0vid.
41 Ibid. Metamorphoses. 1. 125-128,
"^kbid.T. V
A3
A'. S. F. Gow, "Introduction." The Greek Bucolic Poets, trans, with
b r i e f notes (Cambridge: University Press, 1953), p. xix, refers to Theocritus
Idd. x i . 7, x x v i i i . 1'6;.
^ ^ e n r y Bardon, "Poussin et l a L i t t e r a t u r e Latine," Vol. I, Actes,
p. 131.
p. 180.
%argaret R. Scherer, The Marvels of Ancient Rome (New York and London:
Published by the '.Phaidon Press for ...the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1955), pi.'
16.
7
Ovid. Metamorphoses.. 10. 11, and passim j; Vergil. GeoEgicsr. 4
presents a version of the story i n which a huge serpent bites Eurydice in t a l l
grass a-s she flees Aristeius. Aristeius obtains this story from a seer i n
his cave, as the unfortunate death of Eurydice has: affected his bee-keeping.
I do not think Vergil's version was used by Poussin.
8
Mary Hamilton Swindler, Ancient Painting from the Earliest Times:;
to the Present Period of Christian Art (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1929), pp. 329—3.0.,. says that the fresco appears to represent the moment i n
the Roman wedding ceremony before the bridegroom enters. The bride is.
the veiled figure in the centre. Beside her, the partly-draped, wreathed . <
figure is . Pei tho ((that -.is,.. Persuasion) or Aphrodite. Hymen i s the figure
:
on the right of the nuptual couch, wreathed and partly robed i n dark red.
However, this figure has often been interpreted as the bridegroom.
9
BNF. I, 141, mentions Poussin made notes and drawings from Guillaume
du Choul's Discours sur l a Religion des Anciens.Romains (1556) available
in French or Latin. These are in theriMusee Gonde', Chantillv, f i g . 132 of BNP..
E.
•*-°S'cherer, Marvels, p. 128 and p i . 204.
14 „ ,.
Ovid. Metamorphoses. 5. 391-395 and 385-6.
187^
15
C h a r l e s M i l l s Gayley, The C l a s s i c Myths i n E n g l i s h L i t e r a t u r e and i n
A r t , based o r i g i n a l l y on B u l f i n c h ' s "Age o f Fable"' (1855),(-accompanied by
an i n t e r p r e t a t i v e and i l l u s t r a t i v e commentary (New ed., r e v . and e n l . ; New
York, B l a i s d e l l , 1911), p. 451..
16"
E. Bickerman, "The O r p h i c Blessing,"'JWI, I I (1938-9), 368. Orphism
was dbnnected w i t h metempsychosis; BNP, I , 118 says t h i s i d e a i s a l s o i n the
l a s t book o f the Metamorphoses.
17
Ovid.. Metamorphoses. 10 and 11.
18
Gayley, C l a s s i c Myths, p. 168.
" ^ l i r Paul H a r v e y . - e d w The O x f o r d Companion to C l a s s i c a l L i t e r a t u r e
(Oxford?, Clarendon P r e s s , 1946),- pp. 280-281,. a l s o O v i d . Metamorphoses.
5 and 11. 18, f o r C a l l i o p e ' s a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h A p o l l o and Orpheus.
20
Gayley, C l a s s i c Myths, p. 451
^ B i c k e r m a n , "The O r p h i c B l e s s i n g , " p.
1
368.
M a r y Johnston, Roman L i f e (Chicago:. S c o t t , Foresraan, 1957), pp.
2 2
2
^Ibid.. &iZ&y.
^ I b i d . , , p. 128.
27
George K i s h and Guiseppe Imbo, "Vesuvius."' E n c y c l o p a e d i a B r i t a n n i c a .
1967, XXII, 1022V
2
% ' c h e r e r , M a r v e l s . p>. 128. I t was s o - c a l l e d because o f the pinwheels
o f f i r e w o r k s , some o f which M i c h e l a n g e l o i s s a i d t o have designed.
30
" Vergil. A e n e i d . a new t r a n s l a t i o n by P a t r i c D i c k i n s o n , A Mentor
Book (New York:. New American L i b r a r y , 1961), p; 1774
188
(1923), 53: claims the figures of Pyramus-and Thisbe are heavily handled,
while.'the sizes of the cattle i n the second plane are out of proportion.
This over-emphasis on the size of natural forms i s characteristic of
Poussin's late work, in "which he i s trying to stress the grandeur of nature.
BNP, I, 296.
4
9BNP, I , 236..
^jtri-d.., 205, footnote 77'and fig, 171. Possibly the book was Giovanni
Zualla-rdo' s II Devotissimo Viaggio di Gerusalemme-('Rome, 1587)
!
BNP, I, 371-372.
13
BMF
1
< I, 318, footnote 15.
Notes on Pbussin"s Birth of Bacchus i n the Fogg Museum of Art," p.. 117i
declares that i t i s not necessary to suppose Poussin knew this handbook
because "nymphs are recognized as goddesses of f e r t i l i t y , charitable
helpers of man, beast and hero, and fostermothers of young gods: i n distress;
:
from time immemorial. ! Moreover, the section on the Nymphs* and the seciipn
,r
10
See Chapter I of this thesis for Poussin's education i n Paris before
he came to Rome.
11
FNP. p. 190.
12
Panofsky, "Narcissus and Echo: Notes on Poussin's Birth of Bacchus?
in the Fogg Museum of Art, p. 117. ni
13 ;
r
19:1
New York: Blaisdell, 1911), p. 482, says Dionysus, the Greek name for
Bacchus i s a combination of the Greek for God, Dios and Nysa, an immaginary
Thracian vale.
FNP, p. 864
l8
Notes on Tiro Eate Poussin Drawings i n the Louvre,"< GBA. LV (i960). 11.
footnote 1, p i . 18.
20 _^
FgP, p. 197..
^Ovid. Metamorphoses 3. 396-510.
22.
Sir Anthony Blunt, "The Heroic and the Ideal Landscape in the
Work of Nicolas. Poussin,"' JWDI. (1944), p. 1664
23
I b i d . . p.. 1674.
24
BNP, I, 319, footnote 17.; ::;See my footnote 6. I connect Echo
with degeneration, rather than harmony.
25
Gayley, Classic Myths, p. 506. This i s reinforced by Poussin's
connection of morning light with Spring in the Four Seasons of 1660-4.
192?
3
l b i d i , 330: Lucian. Naturalis Historiae. 35. 96.
6-
' BNP. I, 330, footnote 7; Ernst H. Gombrich, "The Subject of
Poussin's Orion.! BM. LXXXIV (February, 1944), 37-A1.-
n
7
See footnote 4.
g
Exposition Poussin (Louvre). no. 113*
"'"The glow may be the red ground of the canvas showing through, though
no one mentions this. The color-scheme, attuned to the subject, i s an
example of Poussin"s theory of the Modes, discussed in Chapter V of this
thesis.
2
•%ivy. AbffiefeebConditaL i b r i . 1. 74
^BNP, I, 1A1 and f i g . 132i. GuiBaume du Choul, Discours sur l a Religion;
; ;
des Anciens Romains (1556).- The drawing i s in the Muse'e Conde', Chantilly.
5
0vid. Fasti. 1.. 53.
6
Margaret R. Scherer, Marvels of Ancient Rome (New York and London:
Published by the Fhaidon Press for the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1955), f
Charles Mills Gayley, The Classic Myths i n English Literature and Art,
based originally on Bulfinch s "Age of Fable""(1855) accompanied by an
|f
interpretative and illustrative commentary (Nextf ed., rev. and enl.f New York:
Blaisdell, 1911), p. 221.
8
Vergil. Aeneid. 8. 195-197.
9
Livy, A,b Urbe Condita L i b r i . 1. 7/4
10,bid.
11
Gayley, Classic Myths, p. 219.
Vergil.. Aeneid. 8. 201-4.
13>
"^Livy, Ibid.
15
BNF, I, 330, from Vergil. Aeneid. 8. I84ff.
I6l.bid.
BNP. I, 321 and footnote 24.
17
l8
Livy. Ab Urbe Condita Libri. 1. 9.
19
Gayley, Classic Myths, p. 227.
Stt"
'Scherer, Marvels., pp. 137, 139, pis. 216, 222..
^Livy.. Ab Urbe Condita Libri.. 1. 45. and Thomas Keightley, .
The Mythology of Ancient Greece and Italy.-('2d ed., considerably enl, and
improved;; London:! Whittaker, 1838), p. 520„
^E. Vernon Arnold, Roman Stoicism (New York: The Humanities Press,
1911), p.- 308..
2
% b i d . , Seneca. Ep.. 24.. 14.
:
26 * • s
131.
195
BNF. I , 3l4»
2
: K i r c h n e r was "a l e a r n e d German J e s u i t who l i v e d a t the:.
Collegib-Romano and was known i n t h e c i r c l e o f C a s s i a n o d a l Pozzo and
Francesco F a r b e r i n i . "
3
Ibid.
196
•''See: C h a p t e r I o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r b i o g r a p h i e s o f t h e Due de
R i c h e l i e u , C a r d i n a l C a m i l l o Massimi and t h e Abbe" N i c a i s e . I would l i k e
t o ammend my r e f e r e n c e t o M a s s i m i as a s s i s t i n g P o u s s i n i n h i s l a s t y e a r s .
No doubt he d i d . But t h e s p e c i a l i s t i n t h e e a r l y Church F a t h e r s was
H'olstenius (Lucas H o l s t e ) t h e B a r b e r i n i L i b r a r i a n ; , , i f P o u s s i n had access,
t o t h i s l i b r a r y and t h e h e l p o f H o l s t e , i t must have been i n v a l u a b l e t o
him i n t h e p a i n t i n g o f W i n t e r e s p e c i a l l y .
4'
Catalogue-. 3-6 v
5
Not i n t h e o r d e r o f books as i t appears i n t h e R e v i s e d Standard
V e r s i o n ; b u t perhaps o t h e r v e r s i o n s i n c l u d e t h e same books i n a d i f f e r e n t
o r d e r . L i k e l y P o u s s i n was s e l e c t i n g what he needed r a t h e r than worry
about i t s l o c a t i o n i n t h i s Book.
E s p e c i a l l y f o r Winter. O v i d i n c o r p o r a t e s an account o f t h e Deluge
i n Bk, I o f t h e Metamorphoses.
ee S p r i n g f o r d e t a i l s . .
12'
Ibid.
"'"Sbe Summer f o r d e t a i l s ,
" ^ e e W i n t e r 5for d e t a i l s .
i b l i s h e d Rome, 1587.
17
Discussed under- the section on the Commissioner of the Four Seasons
and i n Chapter I of this thesis.
18
BNP, 207, says Hblstenius (ikicas Holste) was a specialist
in the Early Fathers, and the Byzantine historians as well as an editor of o
twenty classical works.
19
23
George M.„ A. Hanfmann, The Season Sarcophagus in Dumbarton Oaks,
Dumbarton Oaks Studies, 2> X (Cambridge, Mass.:- Harvard University Press,
;
-'The light shines in the" darkness, and the darkness has not overcome i t , " r
The last part of this statement i s applicable to the ideas behind Winter.
26
Ovid. Metamorphoses. 1. 430-444, also illustrated by Ernst Lehrner,
Symbols, Signs and Signets (Cleveland: The World Publishing Co., 1950),,
p. 85, no. 438.
G!enesi.s 8v IV (R. S..V.)
27
28 ,
Arnold Whittick, Symbols, Signs and their Meaning (London: Leonard
Hill,. I960), p. 160;. and Charles Mills Gayley, The Classic Myths i n English
Literature and Art*, based originally on Bulfinch''s "Age of Fable,"' (1855)
accompanied by. an interpretative, and illustrative commentary (New ed., rev. ;
33
Ibid... 2:9 & JA3 (R. 8. V.)
39
Ibid.,
°I.bid.
4
commission,.. iconography (hot including the allegory, wliich he- missed) and
style of the Four Seasons,
43:
Ruth ltl6'-17/ CR.-- 3., V.,) "Entreat me not to leave you or to return
from following you;; for where you go.s I wOlgo and where you lodge I will
lbdge.;fyburr people.^ shall be? my people.', and your God, my God;, where you die;
I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more*
also i f even death parts me from you." This,was a Stoic virtue,, as Poussin's?
:
52
BNFL, .152-153 and footnote 90.
53^
FNP. p.. 193i I. cannot makeso rigid an 'identification of the treess as
does Friedlaender.
'^M?JL I, 334, footnote %,
and no. 249 of the catalogue being a drawing connected with this fresco.
56
Genesis 1:8 (R. S. V.)
57
-"Ovid, Metamorphoses. 1. 430-444 illustrated in Lehrneir.. Symbols,
p. 85, no. 438.
58
Matthew 24:27^ 29, 37 (R... S„ V.)
59
Whittick. Symbols, p. 262 i n De Baptismo.
;
60
BNF. I, 333-, footnote 2, according to the early Christian writer
Mincius Felix i n his Octavius 6-8.
% M d . , , 208..
8'
5sbid.., 336, from B ' e l l o r i " s V i t e , p.. 444•
% 10
Ibid.., 351-2. Philostratus. Imagines; 1.26 on Hermes' b i r t h
reads as follows-:- Hermes ••"•l&akes h i s stand behind A p o l l o , and l e a p i n g "
l i g h t l y on h i s back, he q u i e t l y u n f a s t e n s A p o l l o * s bow and p i l f e r s i t
u n n o t i c e d , b u t a f t e r he has p i l f e r e d i t , he does n o t escape d e t e c t i o n . .
T h e r e i n l i e s the c l e v e r n e s s o f t h e p a i n t e r ; , f o r he m e l t s t h e wrath o f A p o l l o
and r e p r e s e n t s him a s d e l i g h t e d . . But h i s l a u g h t e r i s - : r e s t r a i n e d , h o v e r i n g a s
i t were over h i s f a c e , a s amusement conquers wrath." Was t h i s the source !
12-
BNP,.. I , 343, 344, 3.47 and f o o t n o t e s ; a l s o O v i d . Metamorphoses.' 1 1 1 . . .
D3
Ovid. Metamorphoses.. 1». 441-444..
l4
Ibi'd ..
:
1. 452-,.-
201
15
Ibid., I, 347, especially footnote 44*
It was also connected with Apollo, because after he slew the Python, before
he met Daphne, he instituted the Pythian games in honor of his victory over
the-serpent,. The victors were crowned with oaken garlands..
17
Sir Paul Harvey, ed., The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
(Oxford: Clarendon Press^ 1946)» P» 34.
1 8
Ovid. Metamorphoses.- I,. 463-474*
^BNF,, I, 346.. He adds Apollodorus and Macrobius as connecting
Apollo I S/J service t'o Admetus with f e r t i l i t y . Callima.chus says the cows
and goal's were especially fertile.. The drawings include butting goats
and bulls, probably with this in mind.
20
Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology (London; Hamlyn, 195.9), p. 127.
^BNP, I, 119-120 and footnote 39; 348, footnote 46... Blunt believes •
that i n Apollo and Daphne this gesture i s associated with the power of the
sun to dry up dampness as well,. The f e r t i l i t y symbol i s from i t s use i n
other Poussin paintings and on amulets of the seventeenth century.
22
Ovid. Metamorphoses. Vol. II index (Loeb Classical Library), p..
438. Also Vergil.. Georgics. 4.
23
Ibid..
3G
BNF, I., 337, 349.
31
Erwin Panofsky,. "Foussin"s Apollo and Daphne in the Louvre,"' BSP,
3T Cahier (Mai, 1950),, 3B.. Panofsky sees i t as a picture of the unhappy
e
loves of Apollo, but there seems to be a more complex meaning evident in the
form as well as in the content. The parallel between the unhappy loves of '
Apollo i s also drawn i n the Viganere.translation of Fnilostratus.
32
37
BNF, I, 350, 373-9.
203
CHAPTER IV
^Correspondance 101".
^Ibid. 105; in footnote 2, p. 262 Jouanny notes that Pope Urban VIII
was favorable to France and a patron of the arts. Sir Anthony Blunt,
Lettres. p. 29, footnote 92, says that his nephews were the ones who governed
particularly poorly.
6lbid. 113.
7
I b i d . 171 and p. 400, footnote 7.
the subjects were the Crucifixion and the Carrying of the Cross. Most likely
this represents Poussin's usual thorough approach to his subject; however,
i t may also suggest he had tried the Jesuit exercises, or knew-of them.
for the Church Historical Society (London: Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, 1940), p. 183; B. J. Kidd, The Counter-reformation. 1550-1600.
a Publication of the Literature Committee of the English Church Union
(Londoni Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1933), p. 67.
1
3 l b i d . p. 172.
204.
24
Bush, Classical Influences, p. 58.
2
%arvey, ed., The Oxford Companion.. - p.n; 407.
26
E. Vernon Arnold, Roman Stoicism (New York: The Humanities Press,
1958), pp. 112, 151. Arnold explains how etymology helped Stoic myth inter-
pretation.
27
BNP. I, 212.
28
I b i d . . 211-12.
but did not practice i t enough so that he was obliged to commit suicide A.
D. 65^after being charged with treason.
205
CHAPTER V
(Rome, 1672), pp. 4 6 O - 4 6 2 . Blunt also gives the sources from which Poussin
took the notes, as far as these are known. Bellori entitled them Poussin's
Observations on Painting, perhaps not realizing they were notes from other
works. The notes were made under eleven headings: On the Example of Good
Masters; Definition of Painting and of tbaImitation Proper to I t ; How Art
Surpasses Nature; How the Impossible Constitutes the Perfection of Painting
and Poetry; On the Bounding Lines of Drawing and Color; On Certain Forms of
the Grand Manner. On Subject Matter. On the Conceit. On Composition, and
On (Style; On the Idea of Beauty; Of Novelty; How to Make up for the Poverty
of a Subject; Of the Forms of Things;; Of the Charms of Color. Tasso,
Quintilian, and Lomazzo are some of the authors from whose works Poussin
made notes. Bellori claims he saw them i n Poussin's writing i n the library
of Cardinal Massimi, and obtained them from the Cardinal via Pierre Le
Maire. Poussin was not an intellectual genius, says Blunt, so that the
notes that are simple and direct, for example, that on color, probably do
represent his own views, rather than a view with which he concurred by
making a note of i t from someone else's book. Blunt also believes that
Poussin made such notes in order to f u l f i l the intellectual expectations
of his century. See S i r Anthony Blunt, Poussin's Notes on Painting,
JJJI, I (1937-1938), 344-350.
2
BNP, I, 361.
^•Catalogue.
^BNP. I, 372. Blunt says on p. 355, footnote 74, that he has made
a free translation of a somewhat obscure letter, in which the underlined
words are d i f f i c u l t .
10
BNP. I, 355.
13
-Ibid.. 362.
•*- Correspondance
2
61.
13
BNP. I, 363-4.
207
of Painting (New York: Norton, 1967) i s the source for the succeding dis-
cussion unless otherwise noted.
18
Elizabeth Gilmore Holt, comp. and ed., Michelangelo and the Manner-
i s t s : the Baroque and the Eighteenth Century. Vol. II of A Documentary
History of Art. Doubleday Anchor Books All4b (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday,
1958), pp. 225-226, footnote 2. In Spain until 1677 the artist could not
be knighted and was subject to a tax.
1 9 i r Anthony Blunt, "Introduction," International, p. 4.
S
28
I b i d . . p. 10.
29
I b i d . . p. 11.
30
BNP. I, 365.
208
31
For B e l l o r i ' s testimony, see BNP, I, 172;,Correspondance AO, to
Chantelou of 16A1.
33
Correspondance 11.
34.
Bush, C l a s s i c a l Influences, p. AA.
38
BNP. I, 226.
ways of painting, one more delicate, the other stronger; i t i s why he was
very contented when the care he had taken in his work was recognized."'
^ BNP. I, 366.
3
^BNP, I, 242.
^Correspondance 56.
A9
Correspondance 147. pp. 448f., as cited i n BNP. I, 312.
210
CHAPTER VI
BNP» I» 371-2.
o
BNP. I, 372.
3
&FNF, p. 193. "Certainly one sees in these four paintings Four Seasonsi
r
s t i l l the form and the genius of Poussin, but one also remarks the weakness
of his hand."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Berger, Klaus. "Poussin's Style and the 19th Century." Gazette des Beaux-
Arts. XLV (1955), 161-170.
212
Bialostocki, Jan. "Uhe Idee de Leonard Realisee par Poussin." Revue des
Arts. IV (1954-), 131-136.
Bible. The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments. Rev. standard
version. London: Nelson,. 1952.
. "The Heroic and the Ideal Landscape i n the Work of Nicolas Poussin."
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes. London. University.
Warburg Institute, VII (1944), 154-168.
53. 5
Eiselen, Frederick Carl, and Lewis, Edwin, eds. The Abingdon Bible Commen-
tary. New York:. Abingdon Press, 1929.
Felibien, Andre*. Entretiens sur les Vies et sur les Ouvrages des Excellens
Peintres Anciens et Modernes. avec l a Vie des Architectes. Tome IV.
Nouv. e"d., rev., corr. & augm Trevoux: S. A. S., 1725.
Grant, Frederick G., ed. Ancient Roman Religion. New York: The Liberal
Arts Press, 1957.
Hawkes, Jacquetta.
v Man and the Sun. London:,- Cresset Press, 1962.
Holt, Elizabeth Gilmore, comp. and ed. Michelangelo and the Mannerists?
the Baroque and the Eighteenth Century. Vol. II of A Documentary
History of Art. Doubleday Anchor Books A114b. Garden City, N. Y.:
Doubleday, 1958.
Lehner, Ernst. Symbols. Signs &; Signets. Cleveland: The World Publishing
Co., 1950.
Licht, Fred Stephen. Die Entwicklungen der Landschaft i n den Werken von
Nicolas Poussin. Basle and Stuttgart, 1954*
This work, unavailable to me, contains comment on almost a l l the
late landscapes.
Ovidius Naso, Publius. Fastorum L i b r i Sex: , The Fasti of Ovid. Edited with
a translation and commentary by Sir James George Frazer. Vol. II.
5 vols. London:; Macmillan, 1929.
Scherer, Margaret R. Marvels of Ancient Rome. New York and London: Pub-
lished. the Phaidon Press for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1955.
Swindler, Mary Hamilton. Ancient Painting from fthe Earliest Times to the
Present Period of Christian Art. New Haven: Yale University Press,
1929.
(1953), 40-55.
pp; 41-50.
APPENDIX
Andre Fl'libien, Entretiens sur les Vies et sur les Ouvrages des
Excellens Peintres Anciens et Modernes; avec l a Vie des Architechtes. Tome IV
(nouv. eel., retfc, corr. & augm. des Conferences de l'Academie Royale
de Peinture & de Sculpture . . .; Trevoux: S. A. S., 1725), pp. 66-67.