Delphi Complete Works of Nicolas Poussin (Illustrated) E-Book

Nicolas Poussin

• Herausgeber: Delphi Publishing Ltd
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Delphi Masters of Art
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 125

Beschreibung

The seventeenth century painter Nicolas Poussin founded the French Classical tradition, working the majority of his career in Rome. He specialised in history paintings, depicting scenes from the Bible, ancient history, and mythology, which are notable for their narrative clarity and dramatic force. Poussin was a man of contrasts; sensual, yet austere and intellectual, prizing reason, order and dispassion above all else. His art is a reconciliation and synthesis of these traits, setting an example of what would become the standard for a long tradition of academic art, continuing until the end of the nineteenth century. His influence was far-reaching, winning the approval of the Neoclassical masters, the Post-Impressionists and even modernists like Pablo Picasso. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Poussin’s complete paintings in beautiful detail, with concise introductions, hundreds of high quality images and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)

* The complete paintings of Nicolas Poussin – over 300 images, fully indexed and arranged in chronological and alphabetical order
* Includes reproductions of rare works
* Features a special ‘Highlights’ section, with concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information
* Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore Poussin’s celebrated works in detail, as featured in traditional art books
* Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smartphones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders
* Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the paintings
* Easily locate the artworks you wish to view
* Includes a selection of Poussin's drawings – explore the artist’s varied works
* Features two bonus biographies – discover Poussin's artistic and personal life

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CONTENTS:

The Highlights
The Death of Chione (1622)
Bacchanals: The Andrians (1627)
The Death of Germanicus (1627)
The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus (1629)
Parnassus (1630)
Plague of Ashdod (1630)
The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1634)
A Dance to the Music of Time (1636)
The Israelites Gathering the Manna (1638)
Et in Arcadia ego (1638)
The Seven Sacraments (1640)
Time Defending Truth against the Attacks of Envy and Discord (1641)
Landscape with Polyphemus (1649)
The Annunciation (1657)
The Four Seasons (1660-1664)
Apollo and Daphne (1664)

The Paintings
The Complete Paintings
Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Drawings
List of Drawings

The Biographies
Poussin (1838) by Arthur Thomas Malkin
Nicolas Poussin (1913) by Louis Gillet

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Leseprobe

Nicolas Poussin

(1594-1665)

Contents

The Highlights

The Death of Chione (1622)

Bacchanals: The Andrians (1627)

The Death of Germanicus (1627)

The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus (1629)

Parnassus (1630)

Plague of Ashdod (1630)

The Adoration of the Golden Calf (1634)

A Dance to the Music of Time (1636)

The Israelites Gathering the Manna (1638)

Et in Arcadia ego (1638)

The Seven Sacraments (1640)

Time Defending Truth against the Attacks of Envy and Discord (1641)

Landscape with Polyphemus (1649)

The Annunciation (1657)

The Four Seasons (1660-1664)

Apollo and Daphne (1664)

The Paintings

The Complete Paintings

Alphabetical List of Paintings

The Drawings

List of Drawings

The Biographies

Poussin (1838) by Arthur Thomas Malkin

Nicolas Poussin (1913) by Louis Gillet

The Delphi Classics Catalogue

© Delphi Classics 2021

Version 1

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Masters of Art Series

Nicolas Poussin

By Delphi Classics, 2021

COPYRIGHT

Masters of Art - Nicolas Poussin

First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2021.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 80170 000 9

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [email protected]

www.delphiclassics.com

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The Highlights

Les Andelys, a commune in the northern French department of Eure, in Normandy — Nicolas Poussin was born near Les Andelys in 1594.

The Highlights

In this section, a sample of Poussin’s most celebrated works is provided, with concise introductions, special ‘detail’ reproductions and additional biographical images.

The Death of Chione (1622)

The leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, Nicolas Poussin was born in 1594, close to the town of Les Andelys in Normandy. He was the son of a nobleman whose fortunes had been dashed in the Wars of Religion. Poussin’s early education was mostly devoted to Latin and letters, though from an early age he displayed a talent for art, which in 1611 was encouraged by the arrival of Quentin Varin, an itinerant painter visiting Les Andelys; Varin is now regarded as the great artist’s first master. Poussin’s later works reveal the influence of Varin, particularly in their storytelling, accuracy of facial expression, fine drapery and vibrant palette.

In spite of his blossoming talent, Poussin’s parents were opposed to the prospect of having an artist for a son. Varin was clearly impressed with the capabilities of this precocious young man and urged Poussin to depart for Paris the following year, where he could realise his ambition to become a major artist.  Aged eighteen, Poussin took this advice and fled his parents’ control.

On arriving at the great metropolis, Poussin studied anatomy, perspective and architecture, working under the instructions of several prominent masters. The most important event of his first stay in Paris was the discovery of the Royal art collections, open to him via his friendship with Alexandre Courtois, the valet de chambre of Marie de Medicis. In this esteemed gallery, Poussin saw for the first time engravings of the works of Giulio Romano and especially of Raphael, whose work had a significant influence on his development. According to Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Poussin’s friend and first biographer, the painter considered himself at this early point of his career as firmly placed in the ‘School of Raphael’. So inspired was he by Raphael’s achievements, Poussin made two unsuccessful attempts to reach Rome in the early 1620’s.

It was an opportune time to arrive in Paris, during the regency of Marie de Medici, when art was flourishing as a result of the Royal commissions for the decoration of her palace, and by the meteoric rise of wealthy Paris merchants, seeking to showcase their wealth with the purchase of classically inspired artworks. There was also a substantial market for paintings in the redecoration of churches outside Paris destroyed during the French Wars of Religion, having finally come to an end.  However, Poussin could not afford to be a member of the powerful guild of master painters and sculptors, which had a monopoly on most commissions and brought lawsuits against ambitious outsiders trying to break into the profession. The young artist would have to bide his time…

One fortunate connection he did make was with Giambattista Marino, the court poet to Marie de Medici, who employed him to make a series of fifteen drawings, eleven illustrating the Roman poet Ovid’s Metamorphoses and four illustrating battle scenes from Roman history. The “Marino drawings”, now held in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, are among the earliest identifiable works to the hand of Poussin.

During this formative period of his apprenticeship, Poussin completed several major commissions. The Death of Chione (1622) is his first known surviving work in oil, which he produced during a stay in Lyon, while on one of his unsuccessful attempts to reach Italy. It portrays the death of Chione, lover of both Hermes and Apollo. The artist had already drawn the scene from Ovid’s collection of myths for the Marino commission. It was an interesting choice for a young artist, the story having been rarely treated in painting before. Ovid tells us how Chione was a maiden of such rare beauty that Apollo and Mercury fell in love with her. In time she gives birth to twins, Autolycus and Philammon, each of whom has one of the aforementioned gods as their fathers. As with many of these tales, there is a hubristic twist. Led to a moment of senseless pride, Chione boasts that she has more attractions than Diane, rousing the vengeance of the wrathful goddess, who pierces her tongue with an arrow, preventing her from speaking heresy again. The maiden’s uncle Ceyx rushes to her assistance, his dramatic form dominating the right section of the canvas. Chione’s father likewise tries to help his daughter and he manages to escape death by his transformation into a hawk by Apollo, illustrated in the left distance.

Poussin places the sensuous body of the girl at the centre of the composition, engaging our immediate attention. Her arms are twisted in a painful and unnatural posture, the light flooding across the corpse with dramatic emphasis, increasing the drama. Ironically, Chione is lighted by the rays of the lunar goddess, her murderer, as her life-like flesh stirs sympathy in the viewer. The tragic scene is heightened by the weeping twin children, whose tear-filled faces stress the inevitable tragedy, as they strive to save the onrushing Ceyx from further persecution. With echoes of Raphael’s 1507 panel painting of The Deposition, Poussin’s Death of Chione may be a work of youthful bravado, but there is no mistaking the early signs of rare genius in the composition. The use of chiaroscuro and foreshortening and the replication of flesh and other painterly details all confirm the artist’s ability to express emotion in a striking and convincing manner.

The painting had in fact been lost for many years and was only rediscovered in recent times. With the help of patrons of the Saint-Pierre Museum Club, the Heritage Fund and the Rhône-Alpes Region, the canvas was purchased in 2016 by the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon. Recent research has revealed that The Death of Chione was likely commissioned by Father Bernardin, Silvio I (1613-1686), during his time in Lyon. In 1691 it came into the possession of the distinguished Reynons family of Lyon, who were silk weavers originating from Milan. Impressively, the painting had remained within the family’s collection for over three hundred years, until its purchase by the Lyons gallery.

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Poussin’s drawing of the subject, graphite underdrawing, pen and brown ink, brown wash, 1622, Windsor Castle

‘The Deposition’ by Raphael, Galleria Borghese, Rome, 1507

Self portrait of Raphael, aged approximately 23 — Raphael would be the most influential artist in Poussin’s development of style.

Bacchanals: The Andrians (1627)

The court poet Marino’s influence eventually led to a commission for the decoration of Marie de Medici’s residence, the Luxembourg Palace. This was followed by a prestigious commission from the first Archbishop of Paris, Jean-François de Gondi, for a painting of the death of the Virgin for the family chapel at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris. Sadly, this work is now lost, though the artist’s rise in the esteem of the court circle indicates that it was well received. Marino took the young artist into his household and, when Marino returned to his native Rome in 1623, he invited Poussin to join him. At last, the painter could realise his ambition of reaching the Eternal City. After remaining in Paris to finish a few commissions, Poussin started his journey to Italy. On the way, he spent several months in Venice, before finally arriving in Rome in the spring of 1624.

Alas, Poussin’s early years in Rome were plagued with difficulties. In spite of promising introductions to prominent Roman figures, little interest was taken in the young artist. After two months, Marino himself departed for Naples, where he died suddenly in 1625, leaving Poussin to fend for himself alone in Rome, and without the protection of his trusty patron. To supplement his living, Poussin was reduced to churning out derivative mythological and biblical paintings in the hope of luring hesitant buyers. At first these were largely inspired by his early Ovidian drawings, now transformed into large scale oil paintings. They demonstrate the influence of the Venetian masters, especially the characteristic and richly chromatic style of Titian, the master colourist. Surviving records state how Poussin spent many hours studying the landmark series of bacchanal paintings by Titian and Bellini, on display at the Aldobrandini and Ludovisi collections. Titian’s The Andrians would inspire Poussin’s own canvas Bacchanals: The Andrians, now held in the Louvre, emulating the sensuous colour and lighting of the Venetian model, replete with revelling figures and a hedonistic theme clearly of interest to the artist.

The Andrians were the inhabitants of the Aegean island of Andros, renowned for its wine and therefore a centre of worship of Bacchus in antiquity. Legend tells how the god of wine and revelry visited the island every year, when a fountain of water would transform to wine. The reclining figures, exhausted children and unmistakably drunken revellers promote the overall theme of hedonism. In keeping with its source, the canvas retains a Venetian richness, notably in the contrasting blue, red and orange robes of the central pyramidal setting of young women, expressing Poussin’s personal vision of the lushness and extravagance of antiquity. As with many of the artist’s greatest works, it is tinged with a melancholic hint of feeling. No doubt such escapism proved a welcome respite from the treacherous dealings and unsavoury connections of Roman court life. Unfortunately, Poussin’s use of a dark ground has caused excessive darkening of some of his early mythological works, which have now lost the initial brilliance of their appearance.

Detail

Detail

Detail

Detail

Portrait of Giovanni Battista Marino, Detroit Institute of Arts, c. 1621— Poussin’s first great patron, Marino (1569-1625) was an Italian poet most famous for his epic ‘L’Adone’.

‘The Bacchanal of the Andrians’ by Titian, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1526

The Death of Germanicus (1627)

As Poussin progressed in his studies, he became efficient in rendering anatomy, geometry and perspective. In the mid 1620’s he started drawing from the live model in the studios of two prominent classical masters, Domenichino and Andrea Sacchi. Also displaying an interest in the antiquities, Poussin measured and copied examples of sculpture, paying close attention to the achievements of the Italian High Renaissance in Rome. In time he became acquainted with the scholar, antiquarian and collector Cassiano dal Pozzo, who served as secretary to Cardinal Barberini.  Pozzo would become his chief Italian patron and one of his dearest friends. Both men shared an interest in the ancient world and classical studies. Pozzo commissioned Poussin to produce a large number of drawings of natural specimens and ancient artefacts, which went on to form a ‘paper museum’. This early encouragement towards a thorough and intellectual form of study had an important impact on the development of the artist.  A surviving account from Giulio Mancini, the physician to Pope Urban VIII, refers to Poussin as being so “well versed” in history, mythology and poetry that he had won for himself the reputation of a painter of rare and exceptional erudition for the time.

In 1626 Poussin received a commission from Cardinal Barberini for a large history painting, TheDeath of Germanicus, now regarded as his first success. Poussin’s scholarly use of ancient textual and visual sources (namely Tacitus’ Annals and the Meleager sarcophagus), blended with stoic restraint and pictorial clarity, helped secure his status as an established artist. The painting was delivered on 21 January 1628 and a receipt signed by the artist shows he obtained the sum of 60 crowns, but the true guerdon was the launching of his career: the lucrative commission of an altarpiece in Saint Peter’s Basilica would follow shortly.

By all accounts, Poussin is the first major artist to explore this subject in oil. He most likely learned of Tacitus’ text through an Italian translation popular at the time. The episode describes the military successes of the Roman general Germanicus, the much feted elder brother of Claudius, whose exploits were prominent in the service of the Emperor Tiberius. The general was especially successful in battles against the German tribes, hence his epithet. Lauded as the great hope of the early Empire, Germanicus’ story was to become a tragic one. He was sent to fight in Syria, although there was opposition from Governor Cnaeus Calpurnius Piso and a bitter dispute ensued. The young general fell grievously ill suddenly in Antioch, accusing Piso of having poisoned him on the orders of Tiberius. He made his wife Agrippina the Elder and the rest of his family swear to avenge his death, confident of his great popularity among the Roman people.

The classical pictorial influence of the painting has been identified in the sculpture ‘Death of Meleager’, represented on several ancient Roman sarcophagi located in Rome, where numerous figures are crowded together near the front. The painting also echoes The Death of Constantine, as featured in a series of tapestries on the Life of Constantine