Nicolas Poussin

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Self-portrait, 1649–50, Paris , Louvre
Signature Nicolas Poussin.PNG

Nicolas Poussin [pu'sɛ̃] (born June 15, 1594 in Les Andelys , Normandy , † November 19, 1665 in Rome ) was a French painter of the classicist Baroque .

life and work

Poussin was born the son of an impoverished country gentleman and former soldier in the royal army. He was trained as a painter between 1612 and 1621 in Rouen and Paris. He received early artistic inspiration from knowledge of the works of the Fontainebleau school . He received his first major order in 1622 in the course of furnishing the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris, where he worked with Philippe de Champaigne .

In Paris he met the poet Marino , who interested him in Greek and Roman mythology, especially in Ovid's metamorphoses . Poussin illustrated Marino's epic about Venus and Adonis with drawings.

The first years in Rome

In 1624 he went to Rome, where Marino recommended him to Cardinal Giulio Sacchetti, who passed him on to Francesco Barberini , the nephew of Pope Urban VIII. He got to know the painters Jacques Stella and Claude Lorrain , Cassiano dal Pozzo , the secretary Cardinal Barberinis and the German painter and writer Joachim Sandrart , who later reported on him. In Rome he studied works by Titian and Raphael, ancient works of art, which were also available to him in dal Pozzo's collection and archive. In 1630 he married Anne Marie Dughet, the daughter of a French cook in Rome.

Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus , 1627, Vatican Museums

As a painter, Poussin initially had difficulties gaining a foothold in Rome, as most of the commissions from the Pope and the noble families went to established Italians such as Guido Reni , Pietro da Cortona or the Carracci. In 1627, on the recommendation of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and through the mediation of Cardinal Barberini, for whom he had just painted the picture Death of Germanicus , he received an important public commission, a large altarpiece with the martyrdom of St. Erasmus for St. Peter. However, the picture received little public recognition and did not result in any further orders for altar paintings. In 1631 he was accepted into the Accademia di San Luca .

As a result, he concentrated on pictures in smaller formats with religious, mythological and historical subjects, which soon found the esteem of private collectors. His friend and patron dal Pozzo acted as an intermediary between Poussin and art-interested buyers . In 1638 he was commissioned by dal Pozzo for a series of pictures on the seven sacraments , on which he worked for four years. For dal Pozzo, Poussin made illustrations for Leonardo's so-called painting treatise , which had been prepared for printing but was only published in an Italian and a French version in 1651.

Return to Paris

In 1641 Poussin returned at the request of the French King Louis XIII. and, under massive pressure from Richelieu, reluctantly returned to Paris after several requests for postponement. The king appointed him director of furnishings for the royal buildings and commissioned him to paint the Grande Salle in the Louvre and to design the carpet weaving mill. For the cardinal he painted the allegorical picture Time withdraws truth from the attacks of envy . In Paris there was soon tension between Poussin and the established artists. Poussin could not make friends with his role and his duties at the royal court. He left Paris as early as autumn 1642 and returned to Rome forever. Richelieu died on December 4, 1642, the king in 1643, and from now on Poussin could work unmolested in Rome according to his own ideas.

Rome

Back in Rome, he concentrated again on pictures in smaller formats with their religious and mythological themes, whereby over time he increasingly turned his interest to mythologically charged landscapes. These pictures were initially bought by a small group of educated Roman art lovers who were concerned with the study of antiquity. These Roman patrons included Giulio Rospigliosi, who later became Pope Clement IX. , the Chancellor of Pope Gian Maria Roscioli, the French ambassadors to the Vatican, Duc de Créqui and Henri Valencay. Through the mediation of dal Pozzos, the circle of his patrons expanded to Paris from the late thirties, where he found, in addition to his old friend and patron Paul Fréart de Chantelou, the banker Jean Pointel, an eager and financially strong patron. Pointel owned more than 20 pictures by Poussin. His two self-portraits, which he painted for his patrons dal Pozzo and Pointel, date from 1639 and 1640. Between 1643 and 1648 he painted a second series on the Seven Sacraments for Chantelou.

The death of Urban in 1644 and the flight of the nephews to France also had consequences for Poussin. Dal Pozzo had lost his position and with it also influence and important contacts. As a result, Poussin painted almost exclusively for his wealthy French clients such as Pointel, Cérisier and Reynon.

The summer (four seasons)

In the last years of his life he turned to religious subjects in addition to mythological images. The highlight of his last creative period is the sequence of the four seasons , whose ambiguous and multi-layered iconography has repeatedly challenged the imagination of the performers. As a late honor from his home country France, he was confirmed in 1665 as the “first painter in France” by Louis XIV.

Poussin died on November 19, 1665 and was buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina . The tomb was erected there in 1830 based on a design by Léon Vaudoyer . The bust of Poussin is by Paul Lemoyne. The relief on the tomb was designed by Louis Desprez on behalf of François-René de Chateaubriand after one of his most famous pictures, Et in Arcadia ego .

The Shepherds of Arcadia , Et in Arcadia ego

The Latin epitaph could have been written by Poussin himself. It emphasizes the life-giving power of his art, which he also thematizes self-reflexively in works such as Et in Arcadia ego or the two self-portraits as a means of man against the omnipotence of death.

Baroque classicism painter

The classification of Poussin's work in an art-historical scheme is difficult. Although his work phase coincided with the heyday of the Roman Baroque , his pictures differ significantly, both formally, ie in the image structure and in the color composition, as well as in their function and size, from the baroque pictures for public spaces. If the baroque painters served the client's need for representation and political and religious propaganda, Poussin's works were intended and painted for the private aesthetic, intellectual and artistic needs of collectors and connoisseurs.

Although Poussin took up suggestions from Domenichino , Carracci or Titian , his engagement with Raphael and the art of antiquity was of decisive importance for his artistic development and goals . Through contact with dal Pozzo, he also had access to the latest knowledge about early Christianity, as evidenced by Antonio Bosio's book Roma sotteranea , which documents the early Christian finds from Roman catacombs . His study of the ancient written and pictorial sources omnipresent in Rome is evident in the choice of topics, in the level of detail of architecture, clothing, weapons, in the rhythmic similarity of the groups of figures to those of ancient sarcophagus reliefs , as well as in the explicitly figurative recourse to text and image forms of illustrated mythologies in French and Italian from around 1550 ( Ovid translation and translation by Clément Marot , Barthélemy Aneau , Lodovico Dolce ), woodcuts by Bernard Salomon , Pierre Eskrich and Vase.

The clarity of the picture structure and the composition of the figures in the picture is underlined by Poussin's symbolic use of luminous primary colors in the clothing of various participants. By having v. a. In the 1630s he used yellow, gold, ocher and orange tones in color grounds from which bright figures developed, he created the so-called “blond tone”, which gave his pictures an intense and luminous color. In the 1640s, his color scheme took on a cooler tone by foregoing an overly warm blonde tone, using classifying architectural elements in achromatic values ​​and cool brown tones, and for reasons of a "coherent" color ("convenientia") breaking bright colors with darker gray tones. This enabled him to accentuate the human impulses in gestures and facial expressions more clearly, which gives his pictures the rank of humanistic statements. Because of this elementary political dimension of his pictures, prominently misunderstood as stoicism, Poussin is considered to be the model of French academicism, which represented the absolutism of Louis XIV - a request that Poussin refused: despite numerous calls from Paris, he remained in Rome until the end of his life. In the landscape paintings of the late period, on the other hand, the coloring warms up again, but due to the architectural rigor of the 1640s, Poussin is still considered a painter of baroque classicism who was primarily influenced by the intellect, which naturally narrows the view of his creative spectrum.

Theorising of Poussin's art

Poussin's painting has always been the subject of a wide variety of theorizing.

Natural philosophical theorization

In the course of his life, Poussin seems to have repeatedly dealt with questions of art theory. In addition to Leonardo's treatise, which he probably already knew because of the illustrations ordered by Cassiano dal Pozzo, he was probably also familiar with other scientific, philosophical, art-scientific and ancient writings, because the affectionate Cassiano dal Pozzo had an outstanding library in which Poussin was allowed to work . It is assumed that Poussin was also familiar with the collection of works on painting written by the Theatine monk Zaccolini . Zaccolini dealt with the problems of light and shadow and dealt with a number of optical subjects. A study of the works of Athanasius Kircher is also assumed. According to various scholars, Poussin's self-portraits, which show him with a book, should prove the importance of a theoretical foundation for his art.

Mode theory

From Poussin himself there is, in relation to a possible theory of art, besides a letter referring to Aristotle, there is also a rather unfortunate, because fragmentarily quoted and consequently not fully reflected quote from Gioseffo Zarlino on the theory of modes. Poussin uses this quotation as a theoretic but not illustrated justification of the second "sacrament series" for the French art lover Paul Fréart de Chantelou , who was dissatisfied with the artistic design and compared the works that had been preserved with the supposedly better works of the first series of sacraments for Cassiano dal Pozzo . Poussin draws parallels to Zarlino's doctrine of modes, which in that letter, but not in Poussin's letter, deals with the ability of different keys to evoke different moods and affects in the listener. For example, Zarlino subdivided antiquity into five different modes: the Doric mode for serious and severe subjects, the Phrygian mode for pleasant and amusing subjects, the Lydian mode for lamenting subjects, the Hypolydian mode for joy and divine subjects, and the Ionic mode for amusing subjects. Subsequently, attempts were repeatedly made to prove that Poussin referred to the theory of modes, but these approaches could not convince due to the actual variety of colors and shapes in Poussin's works. In addition, the rank of Poussinian works was reduced to the illustration of a musical doctrine of the 16th century that was already treated as marginal in the music-theoretical discourse of the 17th century.

Decorum

Modifications of the theory of modes have entered the Decorum debate in art theory of the 18th century, which dealt with the connection and appropriateness between the subject and the mode of representation of images. In view of the fact that the Decorum debate did not begin until after Poussin, however, assuming that the Decorum topos is binding for Poussin represents a post hoc ergo propter hoc argument .

stoicism

Poussin depicted his mythological, allegorical or religious themes in front of architectural backdrops or in idealized landscapes that were later described as “heroic”, as they either depicted figures from ancient heroic sagas or the landscape as a whole is perceived as moving and powerful. His works are interpreted by v. a. against the background of neo-stoicism , whose thoughts about death and wisdom are underlaid by Poussin's religious representations, landscapes and mythologies. The main proponent of this view was the British art historian and British-Soviet double agent Anthony Blunt , who supported the stoicism of Poussin v. a. derived from written sources, but not from Poussin's sculptures. Accordingly, this interpretation of Poussin's works was no longer pursued, especially since biographical reasons for the moralization of Poussin's underpinned by Blunt can be asserted.

Cartesianism

He developed his scenic compositions on the basis of wax models that he placed on a peep-box stage. In many cases, Poussin was viewed as a rational painter, so to speak as a counterpart to Descartes in the visual arts. The peep box set enabled an oeilade in which the action could be viewed uniformly from the so-called prince's eye. However, the Prinzenauge represents an ideal stage concept that has seldom been considered by contemporary theater. Nonetheless, academism interested in theorising tried above all to present Mannalese as an example of a uniformity of space, time and action, in spite of obvious simultaneities and similar occurrences of events on the screen. The protagonist for this was Charles Le Brun , who saw the Poussinian figuration as a sculpture garden. This gestural stagnation resulted in reference points for Le Brun's own program of an expression des passions , which he sought to ennoble with reference to his "teacher" Poussin.

reception

Bacchanal devant une statue de Bacchus

For a long time, Poussin was considered the most important painter of the French Baroque period, until in the 19th and 20th centuries public interest in his work, which had been dismissed as academic and formalistic, waned. Although artists such as Cézanne , Picasso , Francis Bacon and Markus Lüpertz had dealt intensively with his works, it was not until the large Poussin exhibition curated by Germain Bazin in the Louvre in 1960 that the interest of art history was awakened again. She then worked out the progressive elements of Poussin's art, his rationalistic clarity and innovative strength.

In 1944 Picasso painted his picture La Bacchanale after Poussin's Bacchanal devant une statue de Bacchus (1632–1633).

Poussin plays a role in the story Le chef-d'oeuvre inconnu by Honoré de Balzac (German: The unknown masterpiece ). In Paris in 1612 the young Nicolas Poussin meets the painter Porbus the Elder. J. and Frenhofer. The latter wants to compare his unfinished masterpiece, the Belle Noiseuse , with the perfect woman possible. For the comparison, Poussin offers his lover Gilette, who reluctantly agrees. Frenhofer comes to the conclusion that his Belle Noiseuse is perfect. But when Poussin and Porbus look at the picture, they only see a tangle of lines and layers of color. Poussin points this out to Frenhofer. This recognizes his self-deception. He burns his works that same night and dies.

Poussin's picture The Shepherds of Arcadia plays a role in the bestseller The Holy Grail and His Heirs (1982).

Works

Death of Germanicus , 1627, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
The robbery of the Sabine women
Rebekah at the Well , 1648, detail
Cephalus and Aurora , around 1630, National Gallery , London
Resting Venus and Cupid, around 1650

Dating relatively safe

All works: oil on canvas, unless otherwise stated. Dating source: Mérot 1994.

  • 1624: The Poet's Triumph , 148 × 176 cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica , Rome
  • 1624: Midas thanks Bacchus , 98 × 130 cm, Alte Pinakothek , Munich
  • 1624–1625: Cephalus and Aurora , 79 × 152 cm, Worsley Collection, Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire
  • 1624–1625: Merkur, Herse and Aglaurus , 53 × 77 cm, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts , Paris
  • approx. 1624–1625: Venus and Adonis , 98.5 × 134.5 cm, Kimbell Art Museum , Fort Worth, Texas
  • approx. 1624–1628: Armidas discovers Rinaldo asleep , 95 × 113 cm, Pushkin Museum , Moscow
  • 1625: Venus is observed by the shepherds , 71 × 96 cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen , Dresden
  • approx. 1625 (before the death of Germanicus ): Apoll and Daphne , 97 × 131 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
  • 1625: The fight of Joshua against the Amalecites , 97.5 × 134 cm, Hermitage , St. Petersburg
  • c. 1625: Joshua fighting the Amorites , 97.5 × 134 cm, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
  • 1625: Landscape with a Cupid leading a satyr to Venus , 97 × 127.5 cm, Cleveland Museum of Art , Cleveland
  • 1625: Putto holding a cornucopia , 54.8 × 51.8 cm, Pallavicini Rospigliosi Collection, Rome
  • 1625: Venus is surprised by satyrs , 77 × 100 cm, Kunsthaus Zürich
  • 1625–1626: Olymp and Marsias , 102.5 × 89.5 cm, art trade, Switzerland
  • approx. 1625–1626: Bacchus and Ariadne , 122 × 169 cm, Museo del Prado , Madrid
  • 1625–1627: Virgin and Child , 58.5 × 49.5 cm, Preston Manor, Brighton, Sussex
  • 1625–1627: Pietà , 49 × 40 cm, Museé Thomas Henry, Cherbourg
  • 1625–1628: Landscape with Numa Pompilius and the nymph Egeria , 75 × 100 cm, Musée Condé , Chantilly
  • 1625–1630: The Bethlehemite Child Murder , 147 × 171 cm, Museé Condé, Chantilly
  • 1625–1630: Et in Arcadia ego I , 101 × 82 cm, The Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, Chatsworth, Derbyshire
  • 1625–1630: nymph riding a satyr , 96.5 × 75.5 cm, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister , Kassel
  • 1625–1630: Tankred and Herminie , 98 × 147 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1625–1635: The childhood of Bacchus , 135 × 168 cm, Museé Condé, Chantilly
  • 1626: The Childhood of Bacchus , 75 × 97 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1626: Landscape with nymphs and satyrs , 102.5 × 133.5 cm, Walker Art Gallery , Liverpool
  • 1626: Midas at the source of the Pactoclos , 50 × 66 cm, Musée Fesch, Ajacco
  • 1626: Venus and Adonis , 75 × 99 cm, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA
  • 1626–1627: The Childhood of Bacchus , 97 × 136 cm, Louvre , Paris
  • 1626–1627: Hannibal crosses the Alps , 100 × 133 cm, Fogg Art Museum , Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • 1626–1627: Midas cleans itself in the waters of the Pactoclos , 97.5 × 72.5 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York
  • 1626–1627: Nymph and Drinking Satyr , 73 × 59 cm, National Gallery of Ireland , Dublin
  • 1626–1627: Nymph and drinking satyr , 74 × 60 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
  • 1626–1627: Nymph and drinking satyr , 77 × 62 cm, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
  • approx. 1626–1627 (maybe later): The Lamentation of the Dead Christ , 102.7 × 146 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
  • 1626–1628: The Death of Germanicus , 148 × 198 cm, Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • from 1626–1627: Bacchus , 98 × 73.5 cm, Swedish National Museum , Stockholm
  • before 1627: Kinderbacchanal , 56 × 76.5 cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte antica, Rome
  • before 1627: Kinderbacchanal , 74.5 × 85.5 cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte antica, Rome
  • before 1627: Landscape with Venus and Adonis, Part I , 75 × 113 cm, Musée Fabre , Montpellier
  • before 1627: Landscape with Venus and Adonis, part II , 77 × 88 cm, private
  • 1627: The Triumph of Pan , 165 × 241 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1627: Holy Family (16 people), 76 × 63 cm, New York
  • 1627: The inspiration of the poet , 94 × 69.5 cm, Lower Saxony State Gallery , Hanover
  • 1627: The Descent from the Cross , 119.5 × 99 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • ca.1627 (after the death of Germanicus ): Mars prepares to leave Venus , 155 × 213.5 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • 1627: Venus weeps Adonis , 57 × 126 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen
  • 1627: Venus and Mercury, part I , 78 × 85 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery , London
  • 1627: Venus and Mercus, part II , 57 × 51 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1627: Annunciation , 75 × 95 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly
  • 1627–1628: Bacchanal with the lute player, Bacchanal the Andrier , 121 × 175 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1627–1628: Noah's Sacrifice , 99 × 134.5 cm, Tatton Park, National Trust, Cheshire, Great Britain
  • 1627–1629: The Exposure of Moses , 114 × 196 cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
  • 1627–1629: Rebekka and Eliezer , 93 × 117 cm, private
  • 1627–1630: Apollo gives Phaeton his car , 122 × 153 cm, Gemäldegalerie , Berlin
  • 1627–1630: The Bethlehemite Child Murder , 98 × 133 cm, Petit Palais , Paris
  • 1627–1630: St. Cäcilie , 118 × 88 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
  • 1627–1630: The mystical wedding of St. Katharina , 127 × 167.5 cm, Scottish National Gallery , Edinburgh
  • 1627–1630: Echo and Narcissus , 74 × 100 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1628–1629: The Martyrdom of St. Erasmus , 320 × 186 cm, Vatican Pinacoteca , Rome
  • 1628–1629: The martyrdom of St. Erasmus , 99 × 74 cm, National Gallery of Canada , Ottawa
  • 1629–1630: The Virgin appears to St. James the Elder , 301 × 242 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1629–1630: Moses calms the waters of the Marah , 152 × 210 cm, Baltimore Museum of Art , Baltimore
  • 1629–1630: Return of Egypt , 112 × 94 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
  • before 1630: Armidas discovers the asleep Rinaldus , 80 × 107 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
  • before 1630: The Adoration of the Golden Calf, fragment of two women's heads , 32 × 45.5 cm, Booth Collection, Southwell, Nottinghamshire
  • before 1630 (doubtful): Holy Family (four people), 169.5 × 127 cm, Toledo Museum of Art , Toledo, Ohio
  • 1630: Acis and Galathea , 98 × 137 cm, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
  • 1630: Cephalus and Aurora , 96 × 130 cm, National Gallery , London
  • 1630: Diana and Endymion , 122 × 169 cm, Institute of Art, Detroit
  • 1630: The Assumption of Mary , 134.4 × 98 cm, National Gallery of Art , Washington
  • 1630: The inspiration of the poet , 184 × 214 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1630–1631: The victorious David , 100 × 130 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
  • 1630–1633: Children playing with putti , 95 × 72 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1630–1635: Christ in the olive grove , 62 × 49 cm, oil on copper, private
  • approx. 1630–1635 (very controversial): Bacchanal in front of a Pan-Herme , 100 × 142 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1631: The empire of flora , 131 × 181 cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
  • 1631: The plague of Azdod , 158 × 198 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1631–1633: Apollo and the Muses , 145 × 197 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
  • 1631–1633: The Adoration of the Shepherds , 98 × 74 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1631–1633: The Companions of Rinaldus , 119 × 101 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
  • 1632–1633 (controversial): The Triumph of David , 117 × 146 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
  • 1632–1634: Rest on the Flight into Egypt , 66 × 67 cm, Oskar Reinhardt Collection , Winterthur
  • 1633: The Adoration of the Magi , 161 × 182 cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
  • 1633: Theseus finds his father's weapons again , 98 × 134 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly
  • 1633–1634: The Rape of the Sabine Women , 154.5 × 210 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
  • 1633–1634: Return of Egypt , 134 × 99 cm, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
  • 1633–1635: St. John baptizes the people , 95.5 × 121 cm, Getty Center , Los Angeles
  • 1633–1635: Nymph riding a goat , 72 × 56 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1633–1635: Moses strikes the stone , 97 × 133 cm, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
  • approx. 1633–1635: Children playing , 52 × 39 cm, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian , Lisbon
  • 1633–1637: The Train through the Red Sea , 154 × 210 cm, National Gallery of Victoria , Melbourne
  • 1633–1637: The Adoration of the Golden Calf , 154 × 214 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1633–1637: Landscape with Juno and Argus , 120 × 195 cm, Bode Museum , Berlin
  • before 1634: The young, rescued Pyrrhus , 116 × 160 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1634–1635: The Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite , 114.5 × 146.6 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
  • 1635: The Triumph of Bacchus , 128.5 × 151 cm, Nelson Gallery, Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri
  • 1635: The Triumph of Pan , 134 × 145 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1635: Tankred and Herminie , 75 × 100 cm, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham
  • 1635–1636: Venus shows Aeneas her / his weapons , 107 × 133 cm, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
  • 1635–1637: The Childhood of Jupiter , 95 × 118 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
  • 1635–1638: The landscape with St. Rita de Cascia , 48 × 37 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
  • 1635–1640: Hercules at the Crossroads , 91 × 72 cm, National Trust, Stourhead, Wiltshire
  • 1636–1637: St. John baptizes the people , 94 × 120 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1636–1637: Landscape with St. Jerome , 155 × 234 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
  • 1636–1640: The seven sacraments cycle for Cassiano Dal Pozzo
    • The pen , 95.5 × 121 cm, was destroyed in a fire in Belvoir Castle in 1816
    • Marriage , 95.5 × 121 cm, Collection of the Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire
    • The Eucharist , 95.5 × 121 cm, Collection of the Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire
    • Confirmation , 95.5 × 121 cm, Collection of the Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire
    • The Last Unction , 95.5 × 121 cm, Fitzwilliam Museum , Cambridge
    • The ordination , 95.5 x 121 cm, Kimbell Art Museum , Fort Worth
    • Baptism , 95.5 × 121 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington
  • 1637: Camillus and the Falerier schoolmasters , 252 × 268 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1637: Camillus and the Falerier schoolmasters , 81 × 133 cm, Norton Simon Museum , Pasadena
  • 1637: Pan and Syrinx , 106.5 × 82 cm, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden
  • 1637: The Rape of the Sabine Women , Louvre, Paris
  • 1637–1640: Landscape with a Resting Traveler , 63 × 78 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1637–1640: Landscape with a Drinking Man , 63 × 78 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1638: The Finding of Moses , 93 × 120 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1638: The capture of Jerusalem by Titus , 147 × 198.5 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum , Vienna
  • 1638–1639: Landscape with a man bitten by a snake , 65 × 76 cm, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts , Montreal
  • 1638–1640: The Dance of (Human) Life , 83 × 105 cm, Wallace Collection , London
  • 1638–1640: The childhood of Jupiter , 97 × 133 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
  • 1639: Mannalese , 149 × 200 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1639: Venus shows Aeneas the weapons , 105 × 142 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts , Rouen
  • 1639: The Approach of Jupiter , 117 × 155 cm, National Gallery of Art (Samuel H. Kress Collection), Washington
  • before 1640: St. Margaretha , 213 × 145 cm, Galleria Sabauda , Turin
  • before 1640: Et in Arcadia ego II , 85 × 121 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1640: Landscape with St. John on Patmos , 102 × 133 cm, Art Institute of Chicago
  • 1640: The Magnanimity of Scipio , 114.5 × 163.5 cm, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
  • before 1641: Moses in front of the burning bush, oval , 193 × 158 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst , Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 1641: The establishment of the Eucharist , 325 × 250 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1641: Landscape with St. Matthew and the Angel , 99 × 135 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
  • from 1641: The miracle of St. Franz Xaver , 444 × 234 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1641–1642: Time saves truth from desecration through lust and discord , circular shape, diameter 297 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1643: The rapture of St. Paulus , 41.5 × 30 cm, oil on wood, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
  • 1645: Moses as a child enters the crown of Pharaoh , 99 × 144.2 cm, Woburn Abbey , Great Britain
  • 1645–1646: The Crucifixion , 148.5 × 218.5 cm, Wadsworth Atheneum , Hartford, Connecticut
  • 1647: The Finding of Moses , 121 × 195 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1647: The Seven Sacraments cycle for Paul Fréart de Chantelou, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
    • The penance , 117 × 178 cm
    • Marriage , 117 × 178 cm
    • The Eucharist , 117 × 178 cm
    • Confirmation , 117 × 178 cm
    • The Last Unction , 117 × 178 cm
    • Ordination to the priesthood , 117 × 178 cm
    • Baptism , 117 × 178 cm
  • 1647–1648: Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh , 92 × 128 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1647–1655: Holy Family (five people), 172 × 133.5 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1647–1658: Moses as a child steps into the crown of Pharaoh , 92 × 128 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1648: St. Johannes baptizes Christ / Baptism of Christ , 30 × 23 cm, oil on wood, private
  • 1648: Holy Family (five people), 72 × 104 cm, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
  • 1648: Landscape with the Burial of Phocion , 114 × 175 cm, National Museum Cardiff , Cardiff
  • 1648: Landscape with Phocion's widow collecting his ashes , 116 × 176 cm, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
  • 1648: Landscape with Diogenes , 160 × 221 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1648: Rebekka and Eliezer , 118 × 197 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1648 (doubtful): Landscape with a man killed by a snake , 119 × 198.5 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1648: Landscape with the cobbled street , 78 × 99 cm, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
  • 1648: Landscape with a man washing his feet , 74.5 × 100 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1649: The Judgment of Solomon , 101 × 150 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1649: Holy Family (ten people), 79 × 106 cm, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
  • 1649: Landscape with Polyphemus , 150 × 198 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1649: Moses strikes the stone , 122.5 × 193 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1649: Self-portrait , 78 × 65 cm, Bode Museum, Berlin
  • 1649–1650: The rapture of St. Paulus , 148 × 120 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1649–1650: self-portrait , 98 × 74 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1649–1651: Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice , 120 × 200 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1650: Coriolan is implored by his people , 112 × 198.5 cm, Musée Municipal, Les Andelys, France
  • 1650: The Assumption of Mary , 57 × 40 cm, Louvre, Paris,
  • 1650: Landscape with the three monks , 117 × 193 cm, Palace of the President of the Republic of Yugoslavia
  • 1650: Christ heals the blind / Healing the blind , 119 × 176 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • circa 1650: Landscape with a woman washing her feet , 114 × 175 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
  • 1650–1651: Holy Family (nine people), 98 × 129.5 cm, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • 1650–1651: Landscape with three men , 120 × 187 cm, Museo del Prado, Madrid
  • 1650–1655: The Testament of Eudamidas , 110.5 × 138.5 cm, Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen
  • from 1650: Achilles among the daughters of Lycomedes , 97 × 129.5 cm, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • from 1650: Holy Family (five people), 94 × 122 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • from 1650: Landscape with Hercules and Cacus , 156.5 × 202 cm, Pushkin Museum, Moscow
  • 1651: The Thunderstorm , 99 × 132 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen
  • 1651: The Mild Weather , 97 × 131.5 cm, The Morrison Trustees, Sudeley Castle, Great Britain
  • 1651: The Finding of Moses , 116 × 177.5 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1651: Holy Family (eleven people), 96.5 × 133 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum , Los Angeles + Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
  • 1651: Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe , 192.5 × 273 cm, Städelsches Kunstinstitut , Frankfurt am Main
  • 1652–1656: The death of Saphira , 122 × 199 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1653: Christ and the adulteress , 122 × 195 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1654: The Suspension of Moses , 150 × 204 cm, Ashmolean Museum , Oxford
  • 1655: St. Peter and St. John Heal the Lame , 126 × 165 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
  • 1655: Holy Family (four people), 198 × 131 cm, John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida
  • 1655: The Adoration of the Shepherds , 97.5 × 131.5 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
  • 1655: Esther before Assuerus , 119 × 155 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1655: Baptism of Christ , 92 × 129 cm, Museum of Art, Philadelphia
  • 1655: Annunciation , 47.5 × 38 cm, oil on wood, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
  • 1655–1657: Rest on the Flight into Egypt , 105 × 145 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • c. 1656 (dating unsecured): Holy Family (five people), 68 × 51 cm, Louvre, Paris
  • 1656–1657: The Lamentation of the Dead Christ , 94 × 130 cm, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
  • from 1656: Achilles among the Daughters of Lycomedes , 100.5 × 133.5 cm, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts , Richmond
  • 1657: The Birth of Bacchus , 122 × 179 cm, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts
  • 1657: Annunciation , 105 × 103 cm, National Gallery, London
  • 1657–1660: Zenobia is helped by the shepherds , 156 × 194 cm, Hermitage, St. Petersburg
  • 1658: Landscape with Diana and Orion , 119 × 183 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
  • 1659 (doubtful): Landscape with two nymphs , 118 × 179 cm, Musée Condé, Chantilly
  • from 1660: The landscape with agar and the angel , 98 × 73 cm, Galleria Nazionale d'Arte antica, Rome
  • 1660–1664: The Four Seasons , Louvre, Paris
    • Spring , 117 × 160 cm
    • Autumn , 117 × 160 cm
    • The summer , 119 × 160 cm
    • Winter , 118 × 160 cm
  • 1664: Rebekka and Eliezer , 96.5 × 138 cm, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
  • until 1665: Apollo and Daphne , 155 × 200 cm, Louvre, Paris - last work, unfinished

Dating unsecured

All works: oil on canvas, unless otherwise stated.

Lost Works

  • before 1641: Holy Family , oil on canvas
  • 1647–1648: Moses defends the daughters of Jethro , oil on canvas
  • Bacchanal in front of a temple , oil on canvas
  • Bathing nymphs
  • Christ and the Samaritan Woman , oil on canvas
  • The robbery of the Europa
  • The Death of Mary , oil on canvas
  • The triumph of Silenus
  • The Adoration of the Shepherds , oil on canvas
  • The Lamentation of the Dead Christ , oil on panel
  • The vision of St. Franziska Romana
  • The time and the truth
  • Flight into Egypt , oil on canvas
  • Rest on the Flight into Egypt , oil on canvas
  • Virgin with child
  • Jupiter and Leda
  • Venus and love

literature

swell
  • Nicolas Poussin: Lettres. Publiés with an introduction by Pierre de Colombier. Paris 1929.
  • Matthias Bruhn: Nicolas Poussin. Pictures and letters. Dietrich Reimer, Berlin 2000.
  • The little encyclopedia. Volume 2, Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich 1950, p. 392.
  • Giovanni Pietro Bellori : Le vite de 'pittori, scultori et architetti moderni. Success. al Mascardi, Rome 1672; Anastatica, Rome 1931 (Facsimile), pp. 407-462.
  • Alice Sedgwick, Hellmut Wohl, Tomaso Montanari: Bellori, Giovanni Pietro. The lives of the modern painters, sculptors, and architects. A new translation and critical edition. Cambridge Univ. Press, New York 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-78187-9 .
Catalog raisonnés
  • Jacques Thuillier: Pour un "Corpus Poussinianum". In: André Chastel (Ed.): Colloque Nicolas Poussin. Ed. du CNRS, Paris 1960. Volume II, pp. 49-238.
Partial reprint in: Jacques Thuillier: Nicolas Poussin. Flammarion, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-08-012513-3 .
  • Alain Mérot: Nicolas Poussin. Paris 1994, ISBN 1-55859-120-6 .
  • Pierre Rosenberg , Louis-Antoine Prat: Nicolas Poussin. 1594-1665. Catalog raisonnée des dessins. 2 volumes. Milan 1994.
  • Anthony Blunt : Nicolas Poussin. A Critical Catalog. Phaidon, London 1966.
  • Christopher Wright: Poussin. Painting. A critical catalog raisonné. Arcos, Landshut 1989, ISBN 3-9802205-1-6 .
Secondary literature
  • Kurt Badt : The Art of Nicolas Poussin. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1969.
  • Oskar Bätschmann : Dialectics of painting by Nicolas Poussin. Prestel, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-7913-0591-3 .
  • Gereon Becht-Jördens, Peter M. Wehmeier: Picasso and Christian Iconography. Mother relationship and artistic position. Reimer, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-496-01272-2 , pp. 181-209.
  • Gereon Becht-Jördens, Peter M. Wehmeier: Life in the face of death. The invention of art as a medium for overcoming fear by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). In: Erik Boehlke, Hans Förstl, Manfred P. Heuser (eds.): Time and transience (= series of publications of the German-speaking Society for Art and Psychopathology of Expression eV [DGPA]. Volume 27). Edition GIB, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-00-024659-3 , pp. 74-90.
  • Anthony Blunt : Nicolas Poussin. (AW Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts 7). Volume 1-3. Washington DC 1966–1967, (2nd edition. London 1995)
  • Anthony Blunt: Drawings of Poussin. Yale University Press, New Haven 1979, ISBN 0-300-01971-8 .
  • Werner Brück: How does Poussin tell? Samples on the applicability of poetological terms from literary and theater studies to works of visual art. Attempt at a mutual illumination of the arts. Saarbrücken / Norderstedt, 2014, ISBN 978-3-7357-7877-2 .
  • Elizabeth Cropper, Charles Dempsey: Nicolas Poussin. Friendship and the Love of Painting. Princeton NJ 1996, ISBN 0-691-04449-X .
  • Ingeborg Dorchenas:  Poussin, Nicolas. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 7, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-048-4 , Sp. 876-901.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  • Otto Grautoff : Nicolas Poussin's youth. Bern 1914.
  • Otto Grauthoff: Nicolas Poussin. His work and his life. 2 volumes. Munich 1914.
  • Ralph Häfner: Mysteries in the Ariccia Grove. Nicolas Poussin's “Landscape with Numa Pompilius and the Nymph Egeria” in an intellectual context around 1630. Munich 2011.
  • Ingo Herklotz : Two self-portraits by Nicolas Poussin and the functions of portrait painting. In: Marburg Yearbook for Art History. 27, 2000, pp. 243-268; Abridged version in: Reinhard Brandt (Hrsg.): Masterpieces of Painting. From Rogier van der Weyden to Andy Warhol. Leipzig 2001, pp. 88-114.
  • Peter Joch : method and content. Moments of artistic self-reference in the work of Nicolas Poussin. Kovac, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-8300-0999-2 .
  • Annegret Kayling: Poussin's conception of art in the context of philosophy. An interpretation of the Louvre self-portrait taking into account his letters and his oeuvre. Dissertation . Philipps University of Marburg, 2002. (full text)
  • Henry Keazor : Poussins Parerga. Sources, development and significance of the small compositions in Nicolas Poussin's paintings. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 1998, ISBN 3-7954-1146-7 .
  • Henry Keazor: Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665 . Taschen, Hong Kong / Cologne / London 2007, ISBN 978-3-8228-5319-1 .
  • Claude Lévi-Strauss : seeing hearing reading. Hanser, Munich / Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-446-18057-5 .
  • Alain Mérot (Ed.): Nicolas Poussin. New York 1990, ISBN 1-55859-120-6 .
  • Alain Mérot (ed.): Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) (actes du colloque organisé au Musée du Louvre par le Service Culturel du 19 au 21 October 1994). Volume 1-2. Paris 1996.
  • Todd P. Olson: Poussin and France. Painting, Humanism and the Politics of Style. Yale University Press, New Haven / London 2002, ISBN 0-300-09338-1 .
  • Jacques Thuillier: Nicolas Poussin. Flammarion, Paris 1994, ISBN 2-08-012513-3 .

Web links

Commons : Nicolas Poussin  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Joachim von Sandrart: Joachim von Sandrarts Academie der Bau-, Bild- und Mahlerey-Künste of 1675. Life of the famous painters, sculptors and builders (1675) . Ed .: AR Pelzer. Munich 1925.
  2. ↑ see: Works (selection)
  3. ↑ Gereon Becht-Jördens, Peter M. Wehmeier: Picasso and Christian Iconography. (see Ref. below) pp. 181-196, pp. 207-209; this: life in the face of death. (see lit. below) especially pp. 85–88 (with text, translation and interpretation).
  4. ^ Henry Keazor: Poussins Parerga. Sources, development and significance of the small compositions in Nicolas Poussin's paintings. Regensburg 1998.
  5. ^ Kurt Badt: The art of Nicolas Poussin. Cologne 1969.
  6. ↑ Werner Brück: How does Poussin tell? Samples on the applicability of poetological terms from literary and theater studies to works of visual art. Attempt at a “mutual illumination of the arts” . 2014.
  7. ↑ Denis Mahon: Poussiniana. Afterthoughts arasing from the exhibition . In: Gazette des Beaux-Arts . tape 6.60 , 1962, pp. 1-138 .
  8. ^ Anthony Blunt: Nicolas Poussin . London 1995.
  9. ↑ Jutta Held: French art theory of the 17th century and the absolutist state . Berlin 2001.
  10. ^ Neil McGregor: Plaidoyer pour Poussin Peintre. In: Perre Rosenberg (ed.): Nicolas Poussin 1594–1665 . Paris 1994, p. 118-120 .
  11. ^ Oskar Bätschmann: Dialectic of Painting by Nicolas Poussin . Munich 1982.
  12. ^ Oskar Bätschmann: Dialectic of Painting by Nicolas Poussin . Munich 1982.
  13. ^ Frederick Hammond: Poussin et les modes. Le point de vue d'un musicien. In: Olivier Bonfait (ed.): Poussin et Rome. Actes du colloque à l'Académie de France à Rome et à la Bibliotheca Hertziana. November 16-18, 1994 . Paris 1996, p. 75-92 .
  14. ^ Matthias Bruhn: Nicolas Poussin. Pictures and letters . Berlin 2000.
  15. ↑ See Thomas Kirchner: Comment. In: Thomas W. Gaehtgens, Uwe Fleckner (Hrsg.): History painting. Berlin 1996, p. 144.
  16. ↑ Alain Mérot: Les modes, ou le paradoxe du peintre. In: Pierre Rosenberg (ed.): Nicolas Poussin 1594–1665 . Paris 1994, p. 80-87 .
  17. ↑ Ursula Mildner-Flesch: The Decorum. Origin, essence and effect of the subject style using the example of Nicolas Poussin . Saint Augustin 1983.
  18. ↑ Jennifer Montagu: The Theory of the Musical Modes in the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture . In: Journal of the Warburg and the Courtauld Institutes . tape 55, 1992 . London 1992, p. 233-248 .
  19. ^ Anthony Blunt: Nicolas Poussin . London 1995.
  20. ↑ Miranda Carter: Anthony Blunt. His lives . London 2001.
  21. ^ Emmanuelle Hénin: Ut pictura theatrum. Théâtre et peinture de la Renaissance Italienne au classicisme français . Geneva 2003.
  22. ↑ Christian Biet: Rectangle, point, line, circle and infinity. The theater space in the early modern period . In: Nikolaus Müller Schöll (Ed.): Aisthesis. To experience time, space, text and art . Schliengen 2005, p. 52-72 .
  23. ↑ Jutta Held: French art theory of the 17th century and the absolutist state . Berlin 2001.
  24. ↑ Werner Brück: How does Poussin tell? Samples on the applicability of poetological terms from literary and theater studies to works of visual art. Attempt at a “mutual illumination of the arts” . 2014, p. 213 ff .
  25. ^ Henry Keazor: Poussin. Cologne 2007, pp. 6-9.
  26. ↑ La Bacchanale, 1944, National Gallery of Australia
  27. ^ Alain Mérot: Nicolas Poussin. Paris 1994.
  28. ↑ A Christie's Loss Is the Kimbell's Gain. In: New York Times . September 9, 2011.


personal data
SURNAME Poussin, Nicolas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French painter
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1594
PLACE OF BIRTH Les Andelys
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1665
Place of death Rome