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NICOLAS

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JAMES THOMPSON

THE

METROPOLITAN

MUSEUM

OF ART

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 速 www.jstor.org

TheMetropolitanMuseum ofArt Bulletin Winter 1992/93 Volume L, Number 3 Published quarterly? I993

by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Iooo Fifth Avenue, New York,N.Y. I0028-OI98.

Second-classpostage paid at New York,N.Y. and Additional Mailing Offices. TheMetropolitan MuseumofArt Bulletinis provided as a benefit to Museum members and availableby subscription. Subscriptions$22.00 a year. Single copies $5.95. Four weeks' notice requiredfor change of address.

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GeneralManagerofPublications: John P. O'Neill.

Editor in Chiefof the BULLETIN: Joan Holt.

AssistantEditor:Tonia Payne.

Production:PeterAntony.

Design:Betty Binns.

he paintingsby NicolasPoussinin the MetropolitanMuseumforma remarkablegroup. Not only is each one exceptionally beautiful, but they span the artist's career with representativeexamples of his constantly evolving style. Like all truly great artists, Poussin never painted the same way twice. His ideas about art and even the touch of his brush continually changed as he grew from fiery young Romantic to awe-inspiringmaster.

With the exception of The CompanionsofRinaldo, a magnificentgift from Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, the paintings were purchased by the Museum. The earliestin date, Midas Washingat the Sourceof the Pactolus,was also the earliest acquisition. It was one of 174 paintings in three collections that the Museum bought in March I87I, less than a year after its founding.

More than half a century passed before another genuine Poussin entered the collection. Then, in I924, the Museum purchased not one but two superb canvases from the New York dealer Durlacher Brothers: the Raphaelesque Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man, which had belonged to the princes of Liechtenstein from about I760, and the sublime Blind Orion Searchingfor the Rising Sun, a work justly celebrated by British writers and artists during the nineteenth century. Immediately after the Second World War, the greaterpart of the collection formed by Sir FrancisCook came onto the market, and the Museum took the opportunity to buy The Rape of the Sabine Women.It would be hard to imagine ever again forming such a choice selection of the artist'swork.

In the following essayJames Thompson, associateprofessorof art history at Western Carolina University, discusses the Metropolitan'spaintings and drawingsby Poussin and places them in the wider context of Europe during the seventeenth century.Thompson, a former assistantin the Department of EuropeanPaintings,last wrote for the Bulletinin I989, when he contributed a fine study of Jean-BaptisteGreuze that coincided with a special exhibition of all of the Greuzeworks in the Museum. The five Poussin canvasesfeaturedin this publication are on permanentdisplayin GalleryIO. EVERETT FAHY

Chairman John Pope-Hennessy Departmentof EuropeanPaintings

COVER:

Detail of The Rapeof the Sabine Women(fig. 20)

2

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Oh, whata greatstoryteller!

GIAN LORENZO BERNINI

icolas Poussin (I594-I665) has been consistently admired

by artistsand scholars,but less loved by the generalpublic. Such a reaction probably would not have surprised or even displeased the painter, who worked extremely hard at his art and expected a reciprocaleffort from his viewers.The IrishwriterJamesJoyce counseled readersto spend the same seventeen years trying to comprehend FinnegansWakethat he took to write it; Poussin'ssustained labor on each canvas similarlymerits (and requires)more than a passingglance. The compass, application,variety,and coherenceof this fiercelydiligent composer and storytellerdemand detailed scrutinyand careful appreciation.

Few writershave denied that Poussin'spictures create a nexus for the work of his predecessors, his contemporaries, and almost all subsequent French artists.The rich heritageof Frenchpainting, indeed the whole Westernpictorial tradition, makes little sense without his central contribution. But, for the uninitiated, many of Poussin'spaintings still appear cold, rigorous, cerebral, and arcane. Thumping his forehead, the flamboyant Italian sculptor Bernini declared, "Signor Poussin is a painter who works from here." Viewers may concede what the English writer William Hazlitt called Poussin's"laborious and mighty grasp" and acknowledge the artist's crucial influence on and importance for Europeanpainting without particularlyadmiring or enjoying his work.

Yet even those who prize in painting the unexpected pleasureor the daring intuition can find special rewardsin this supremelyconscientious artist. Metropolitan Museum visitors who pause to tarry longer and examine closely Poussin'sfive powerfulpaintings-three of them unquestionedmasterworkswill recognizethat these picturesare far less chilly than they initially seem and

3

offermuch morethan meredidacticsermons.Subtlyreinforcingand animating even Poussin'sgrandestformalconceptionsis a visualqualitytoo seldom passion. perceived,andtoo infrequently acknowledged: Emotion and restraint,feeling and form are generallyregardedas contraries,but certainartistsand performersmanageto combinethem in ways that do not oppose or negate,but ratherfocus and concentrateeach other.

Likean animalin a cage,passionis all the morepoignantfor beingconfined, and the clarity and necessity of the controlling system may equally be enhancedwhen pairedwith the intensityit restrains.In 1649,little morethan sa raisonet chercher a decadeafterhis Discoursde la mdthode pourbienconduire Reaon theMethodforRightlyConducting la veritedanslessciences(Discourse the Truthin Science),Poussin'sphilosophicalcontemsoningand Searchingfor on the Rene Descartes publishedhis Traitedespassionsde I'2me(Treatise porary Passionsof the Soul).The other importantFrenchphilosopherof the period, BlaisePascal,unitedthe two extremesin one of his penseesor "thoughts" (no. to feeling."

530):"Allour reasoningcomesdownto surrendering Within Poussin'srigorouslycalculated-overly calculated,his detractors claim-pictures appeara host of unforeseentouches,sensuousand animating HazlittpairedPoussin's"nativegravity"with a "nativelevity." divertissements. of pictures,but he is at all times, Poussinmaybe justlyfamedas an "architect" a painterof them.In spiteof his loveof complexstructure, andomnipresently, Poussinpartlyfollowed the advice of a contemporaryEnglish clergyman, RobertHerrick,who in a famouspoem urgedhis readersto take"Delightin Disorder."Arguingagainsta regimentedart that was "too precisein every While Poussincerpart,"Herrickcounseledan alternative"sweetdisorder." as a goal, his workis consistentlyenlivened tainlydid not pursueirregularity by surprisingdetails:the angularshaftof light that catchesan infant'sfoot, a pieceof fruit,or a woman'sbreast.Framedby the rigidhorizontalandvertical such illuminatedorganicshapescreatebalorderof backgroundarchitecture, ance by means of indirectassemblageand accumulationratherthan strict symmetry.

Poussininfusedhis workwith passionbecausePoussin'swork washis passion. "I have neglectednothing,"perhapshis most famoussingle statement abouthis art,waslessa boastthanan affirmationof personalprocedure.With his brushPoussininterpretedand animatedthe passionatepoetryof his heart, filteredthroughthe structuralorderof his head.

Poussindid not leavebehinda portraitof anyoneelse but completedtwo memorable paintings of himself (figs.I, 2). Both of these exceptional works

wereproductsof his artisticmaturity,done in responseto persistentrequests fromhis patronsand friendsJeanPointeland PaulFreartde Chantelou.Both reveala combinationof innerexplorationand outerimagebuilding.The por-

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trait done for Pointel, here representedby an engravingafter it by Jean Pesne that reversesthe composition (fig. i), is the less iconic of the two. Behind the painter, relief putti bear a rhythmicallydescending swag, and Poussin'sdark gown follows an upward-spiralingsequence of folds. The artist'spose and his slightly cocked head establish a gentle curve in sinuous counterpoint to the vertical.The twinkle in his eye accompaniesthe start ofa sad smile. His hands cross at the wrists, a pencil holder poised in his right hand and his left holding a volume entitled o

E LUMINE ET COORE (On Light and Color). The formal

inscription above refers not only to the Normandy village in which he was born, Andelyensis (of Les Andelys), but also the year of his birth, if his recordedage, fifty-five,is subtractedfrom the date in the picture, i649.

Shortly thereafterPoussin painted another portraitof himself, this time for the French civil servant and scholar Chantelou. A remarkin his letter to the same man two years earliersuggests that Poussin repeated the unaccustomed task only because he doubted the ability of his overpricedcontemporariesto performit adequately: I would already have had my portrait done to send to you before now, as I know you would like. But it annoys me to spend a dozen pistoles for a head in the manner of M. Mignard, the one I know who does them the best, as his are cold, bruised, rouged, and without facility or vigor.

5

2

Nicolas Poussin. Self

portrait ca. 1650. Oil on . canvas, 38Y/ x 29'/8 in. (97.8

x 74 cm). Mus&edu Louvre, Paris

An icon of uncompromisingpictorialprobity,the image Poussin ultimately created for Chantelou (fig. 2) has since stood as the definitive distillation of the artist. Poussin'spose firmly establishesthe vertical:even his hair is parted down the middle. A staggeredsequence of framed canvasesbehind him gives his compositional background the rectangularoverlap and interplay seen in the best abstractworks by Piet Mondrian or Hans Hofmann.

The important biographicaland critical account of Poussin published by Giovanni Pietro Bellori in i672 explains that the only visible subject behind the figure of the artist, a woman shown in profile with an extra eye in her tiara, representsan allegoricalembodiment of Painting embraced by the disembodied hands of Friendship.Thus Poussin provided a touching tribute to his relationshipwith his patron. The closer one examines this imposing image of the aging artist, the more human its details become: the wrinkles on Poussin'sneck, the graying hairs of his head, the weary sigh on his lightly parted lips. When Bernini saw the two self-portraitsin Paris the year before Poussindied, he deemed Chantelou'spicture a better likeness than the less formal, slightly earlierwork done for Pointel. Unexpectedly, this official public image also capturesthe privateman.

Poussin depicted himself as the embodiment of distinction. So profound was Bernini'sbelated recognition of the painter'sgenius that Europe'sgreatest sculptor (some said its greatestman) sadly confided to Chantelou after a pro6

tractedstudyof Poussinworksin his collection:"Todayyou havecausedme greatdistressby showingme the talentof a manwho makesme realizethat I knownothing."Yetthe careerthat endedin such impressivepeerrecognition hadhumblebeginnings. y the time Poussinwas born in Normandy,religiouswarshad ruined the economic prosperityof his well-bredparents.His first artistic instructionprobablycamefrom the itinerantBeauvaisartistQuentinVarin, who was visitingLesAndelysto paint picturesfor the local church.In I612 Poussinwent to Paris,wherehe workedunderminormasterslike Ferdinand ElleandGeorgesLallement.Therethe youngPoussinwasableto studyItalian worksin the royalcollection,as well as engravingsafterRaphaeland Giulio Romano.An instantItalophile,Poussinmadetwo abortiveattemptsto reach Rome. Once he went as far as Florencebeforeinsufficientfunds forcedhis returnto France.

Backin Paris,Poussinpaintedsix temperasfor the Jesuits,an undertaking thatattractedthe attentionof the courtpoet Giambattista Marino.Knownin Franceas the CavalierMarin, Marino was a Neapolitan who had been broughtto Parisby the FrenchqueenandformerFlorentineMariede Medicis.

Marinocommissionedthe youngartistto do a sequenceof drawingsbasedon Ovid'sMetamorphoses, thus germinatingPoussin'senthusiasmfor that transformationaltext,an associationthatblossomedthroughouthis career.

In I623, the sameyearthat CardinalMaffeoBarberiniwas electedPope UrbanVIII, PoussinfollowedMarinoback to Italy.The painter'sextended stopoverin VeniceintroducedPoussinfirsthandto the greatsixteenth-century paintersof thatcity.VenetianartistslikeTitian,Veronese,andTintorettohad embarkedupon an unprecedented explorationof the coloristicrangeandrichnessof oil paint,a developmentreasonably linkedto the dense"wet"lightand created their native hazyatmosphere by city'slagoonsand canals.The warm in seen both of Venice in the city itselfhasthe crepuscular and glow paintings luminosityof the settingsun.

Poussin's Venetianvisitmeantthathe did not reachRomeuntilthe following year,at whichtime Marinopresentedhim to the pope'snephew,Cardinal FrancescoBarberini.Marino'sreportedintroductionof the recentlyarrived provincialFrenchmancountersthe conventionalnotion of Poussinas a lofty andseverescholar:"Look,a youngmanwith the furyof a demon."

The cardinalemployedPoussinto painthis firstmasterpiece,TheDeathof Germanicus (MinneapolisInstituteof Arts), an orchestratedstoic friezethat for centuriesstood as the archetypalembodimentof noble, classicaldeath.

Still,the artist'sfirstyearsin Romewerefinanciallyinsecure.Duringthis early periodPoussinturnedout a varietyof works,includingdecorativesceneslike with a RiverGod(fig. 3), currentlyon loan to the Metropolitan.

Landscape 7

3 Nicolas Poussin. Landscape with a River God, ca. I626. Oil on canvas, 30i/4 x 34/8 in. (76.8 x 88 cm).

Private collection, on loan to The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Originallyunitedwith anotherpanel,of VenusandAdonis(fig.4), now in the Musee Fabre,Montpellier,this vista was commissionedas an overdoorfor Cassianodal Pozzo.ThroughCardinalFrancescoBarberini's privatesecretary, out Poussin'scareerdal Pozzowas to be the painter'sclose friendand importantpatron.

Majorscholars,amongthem the late AnthonyBlunt, have doubtedthat with a RiverGodand its companionpiece are authenticworksby Landscape Poussin.Someof the uncertaintymayderivefromthe pair'sfunctionas architecturaldecoration,whichgivesboth componentsa superficially genericlook.

Carefulstudy,however,revealsfelicitiesof observationand executionthat stronglysuggestthe handof the youngPoussin.

The rivergod is renderedwith a sophisticatedcomprehensionof foreshortandsaggingskin.The languidgraceof this heroicpersonening,musculature, ification recallsthe reclining figure of Dusk on Michelangelo'stomb for 8

Lorenzode' Medici, duke of Urbino, a work Poussin would have seen in Florence. In other protagonists the painter's sense of accurate dynamics is also apparent.The greyhound cocks its slender head in a crocodile profile to slake its thirst from spilling water caught at the source. The putto strainsbackward, his hidden right hand tugging at the courser'sred collar in an ineffectualeffort at restraint.Both figures demonstratea keen eye and incisive touch not normally present in the works of Pietro Testa and his followers (the group in which Blunt suggestedthe painter of this small landscapecould be found).

Most important of all, though, is the quality of light in the picture, the evocation of a warm summer'sevening, which, when the painting is joined to its companion piece, produces what the art historian Konrad Oberhuber has called the "purestidyll" of Poussin'searly career.The late afternoon gloaming gilds and burnishesthe profuse foliage. If the two pictures are reassembledin their original configuration (figs. 3,4), rich Venetian light illuminates the broad horizontal sweep of a pastoral symphony, a landscape saturating the senses of sight, taste, and touch. The playfully erotic wrestling of the nymphs in the middle ground of the Metropolitan'spicture diminutively echoes the more seductive and serious embrace of Montpellier'sVenus, into which the young hunter Adonis hesitantly descends. Combined with the ivy intertwining the oak above the lovers, their coupling createsa verticalcounterpoint that ascendsthe entire height of the composition.

Yet such subtle talents did not bring Poussin much work. Only after the withdrawal of Pietro da Cortona and through the special intercession of dal Pozzo was Poussin selected to receive his major commission for an altarpiece in Saint Peter's,the grisly Martyrdomof Saint Erasmus.Although Poussin pro4 Nicolas Poussin. Venus

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duced a remarkable painting,his resultingeffortwas not a popularsuccess. and later Ignoringits narrativestrengthand skillfulhandling,contemporary writershavecitedthe pictureas evidenceof the artist'stechnicaland temperamentalunsuitabilityforlargeenterprises.

That relative"failure" and Poussin'ssubsequentsevereillnesswere major determiningeventsin his career.In an undatednote to dal Pozzo,probably pennedaroundthis time, Poussinstated: Not beingableto greetyouin personon accountof anunexpected illness,I am to all with to to beseech write mymight helpmein some you yetagain, presuming way;I requiresuchaidbecausemostof thetimeI amill,justwhenI haveno incomeon whichto live,otherthantheworkof myhands.

Shortlythereafterthe artistmarriedAnne-MarieDughet, daughterof a Frenchpastrycookwho had takenPoussinin when he wassick.Followinghis recovery,Poussinconcentratedon smaller-scalepicturesfor privatepatrons, insteadof competingfor the religiousand royalcommissionsthat kept conlike RubensandCortonaso monumentallybusyandprosperous. temporaries A remarkable earlypaintingwhose concentratedemotionalfocus derived fromthe scaleanddramaof Poussin's altarpiecein SaintPeter'sis TheMassacre of the Innocentsat Chantilly(fig. 5). The group of the executionerand the motherwho franticallytries to stay his hand was probablyinspiredby the famousclassicalsculptureof the GaulKillingHimselfand His Wife(fig. 6), hereillustratedin a contemporary engravingthatsets the groupon a pedestal in the piazzadellaRotondain frontof the Pantheon.The GaulKillingHimself was discoveredsometimebefore1623 and displayedas one of the famedmarblesof the Ludovisifamily,alongwith the groupof Castorand Pollux(seefig.

7). Thesestatuesand otherssimilarto themwerecarefullymeasuredby artists like Poussinin orderto discoverthe idealproportionswith whichto represent the humanform. Poussin'sMassacre may also havebeen influencedby a draa man maticprecursorfor whom he avowedonly strongdistaste.Caravaggio, in Poussin's words"bornto destroypainting,"hadalreadyin his Martyrdom of SaintMatthew(fig.8) combineda centralassassinanddyingsaintwho presage Massacre. the conflictingexecutionerandmotherof Poussin's frozen the In movingfromhis dynamicdrawingsto poetryof the Massacre, Poussinmayalsohavesoughtclassicalinspirationfor the anguishedprofileof the grievingmotheron the right.His drawingof a bacchantefrom the Borghesekraterholdinga deadhind (fig. 9) is close enoughto the motherwith to suggest her slaughteredinfantin the rightmiddlegroundof the Massacre that Poussinin this instanceanticipatedthe adviceSirJoshuaReynoldsdispensed over a century later in the twelfth of his fifteen Discourseson Art (I76o-9o) given to studentsof the EnglishRoyalAcademy.ThereReynolds who would normallyexpress suggestedthat "aBacchanteleaningbackward,"

IO

5 Nicolas Poussin. TheMassacreof the Innocents,ca.

I628. Oil on canvas, 577/8 x 67 3/8in. (147 x 171.1 cm).

Musee CondO,Chantilly

6 FranSois Perrier (I59o-I650).

Gaul Killing

Himself and His Wife, 1638. Etching of a Roman marble group, copied from a Greek sculpture of the 3rd century B.C., in the Terme Museum, Rome. Published in Perrier'sSegmenta nobilium signorum et statuarii quae aeternae ruinis erepta..., Rome, 1638.

Thomas J. Watson Library

II

7 Nicolas Poussin. Castor and Pollux, ca. I628. Pen and brown wash on paper, 9%/8x 6/4 in. (24.6 x 17.i cm). Drawing after the so-called Ildefonso Group, now in the Prado, Madrid. Musee Conde, Chantilly

8 Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi, 1573-I6IO). Martyrdom of Saint Matthew, 1599-1600. Oil on canvas, 127 x 135 in. (323 x 343 cm).

Contarelli Chapel, San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome

12

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9 Nicolas Poussin.

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Bacchante from the Borghese Krater, ca. I627. Pen and

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brown wash on paper,9I/2 x 65/4in.

(24.1 x I5.9 cm).

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by Poussin's informed :'-~5?;? isits structure even as ory, andPollux(fig.7).~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ splendid ashiscopyof Castor such "Ildefoso the a Group,"hissculpturwasonvie soeim Also known tegrdn i f te ila Ldois an ws ate one byCadi befreI62 ia osino Mssmi wh asoposesedth Mtolita' nalCailo ferteCso atlu fg 3. osi' sec th oreofh Washingat~~~~~~~~~~~I" mino~~~radutetofps,btismjrleainiso makes Pollux and frantic "anenthusiastic kind of joy,"could paradoxically also be utilizedto likethe intomuscledheroes, magis-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ sculpture's thelitheadolescents transform

embody the opposite: "thefranticagony of grief."

The youthful reworkingof motifs from classicalsculpture, a practice that Poussin followed his whole life, was counterbalancedin his early pictures by an admiringpainterlyapplicationof Venetian color. His Inspirationof the Poet (fig. io) luminously reconciles the two. Long after it has first been seen, the golden Parnassianatmosphereof this picture persistentlyglows in the memory, even as its structureis informed by Poussin'sstudies after antique marbles

suchas his splendidcopyof CastorandPollux(fig.7).

Also known as the "IldefonsoGroup,"this sculpturewas on view sometime before i623 in the gardenof the Villa Ludovisi and was later owned by Cardinal Camillo Massimi, who also possessedthe Metropolitan'sPoussin of Midas Washingat the Sourceof the Pactolus(fig. 13). Poussin'ssketch after the Castor

and Polluxmakesminor adjustmentsof pose, but its majoralterationis to transformthe sculpture's litheadolescentsinto muscledheroes,like the magis-

I3

Io Nicolas Poussin. The Inspiration of the Poet, ca. i630o Oil on canvas, 72/, x

in. (I84.2 x 21I4 cm).

Muse du Louvre,Paris 84/4

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terial Apollo in The Inspiration of the Poet. Poussin's distinctive blocks of shadow in the drawing not only create sculptural bulk, but also evocatively suggest the play of sunlight on marble.

Originally stimulated by his Venetian visit, Poussin'sinterest in color was further enriched when he was able to study the three bacchanalsthat Titian had painted more than a century earlier for Alfonso d'Este in Ferrara.The German artist Joachim von Sandrartdescribed going in the illustrious company of, among others, Claude Lorrain, Poussin, and Pietro da Cortona to view the Titians, then in Rome as part of the Ludovisi collection. Poussin copied these works, and his early Youthof Bacchus(fig. ii) borrowedits sensuous drunken nude in the lower right almost directlyfrom Titian'sBacchanalof theAndrians(fig. 12). Although later canonized as the apostle of austerelinear order, the youthful Poussin was intoxicated by Italian sunshine and the rainbow hues used by his Venetian predecessors.The legendary English art critic John Ruskin judged Poussin'sbacchanalianrevels as his finest works, "always brightlywanton and wild, full of friskand fire."

I4

ii Nicolas Poussin. The Youth of Bacchus, ca. i626.

Oil on canvas, 38/4 x 53/z in.

(97.2 X i35.9 cm). Musee du Louvre, Paris

12 Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, ca. 1488/89-1576). The Bacchanal of the Andrians,

1523-25. Oil on canvas, 687/8 x 76 in. (174.9 X 193 cm).

Prado, Madrid

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I3 Nicolas Poussin. Midas Washingat the Sourceof the Pactolus,ca. I626. Oil on canvas, 38/8 x 28/8 in. (97-5 x 72.7 cm). Purchase, 1871 (7I.56)

In 871 Poussin's MidasWashing at theSourceof thePactolus(fig.I3) became the first painting by the artist to enter an Americanmuseum. Its subject is book XI. The Phrygianking Midas'sfond taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, dream of a golden touch having proved a nightmare, the repentant monarch was advisedby the god Bacchus that total immersion in the headwatersof the riverPactoluswould wash away both the outer gilt of his body and the inner guilt of his former avarice. The Metropolitan'sversion, one of two almost identical variantsby Poussin, featuresa pair of putti ratherthan the solitary infant of the other picture (now in a New Yorkprivatecollection). The Metropolitan's work has a pendant, the celebrated Et in Arcadia Ego (fig. 14), which also belonged to Poussin'slifelong friend CardinalMassimi.

The rich earth tones of Midas Washinghad their origins in Poussin'searly enthusiasmfor Venetianart, at its peak in the late I62os. The picture'satmosphere is twilit, almost autumnal. The composition is rather obviously constructed upon the opposed diagonalsof the personifiedPactolus (amplifiedby the body of Midas and iterated in the putti) and the countering of the substantial tree trunk, ascending from the rivergod's loins and his drawn-up left leg. Combined with the picture'ssomewhat somber mien, the arrangement initially makes the painting seem less like a dramaticnarrativethan a decorative landscapepanel. Yet a closer examination uncoverspowerful details amid the broadhandling.

For even as a young artist Poussinworked the alchemy of all greatpictorial storytellers,transformingcolored pigment into the myriadsubstancesof imagined narrative.Here it becomes the bulk of an overhangingboulder, the dimpled straining flesh of the two putti (the left leg of one softly reflectedin the rushing water below), or the leafy lower tree growth that recursin the woven wreaths sported by three of the painting's four protagonists. The reclining rivergod may be a stock Baroquemotif, but there are no flaws in his graceful construction. Feet, the bane of unsure figure draftsmen, are (as always in Poussin'sworks) dispatchedwithout apparentdifficulty.

The story'sroyal principalis easily missed, crouching just beyond the river god, whose knee makes strong visual contact with Midas'shead and rhythmic interactionwith his body. Midas is confined to a compositional triangle condensed even more tightly by his robe, which descends from the tree'slower branch and is highlighted by the setting sun. The thin sliver of water,pouring from the barely glimpsed, spilling vase held by Pactolus, discreetlyforms the edging of a lower cloak for the naked Midas. The king'sintense frown reflects the pain of his purificationin the icy water, while his fetal crouch suggests a rebirth.Thus his eccentric, secondaryposition can be seen as contributing to and expressingthe narrative.

17

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14 Nicolas Poussin. Et in Arcadia Ego, ca. I627. Oil on canvas, 393/4 32/4 in.

(IOI x 81.9 cm). Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth.

Reproduced by permission of the Chatsworth Settlement Trustees

The picture'spendant at Chatsworth, Et in ArcadiaEgo (fig. I4), is one of two dramaticallydifferenttreatmentsof the subject (the later version is in the Louvre). According to a subtle, extended analysis by Erwin Panofsky, the Latin title read from the tomb by the shepherdsis best understood as "Evenin Arcadiathere am I," the "I"being death, whose existence in this pastoralparadise is surprising.Poussin'sconception shadows the most benign of environments with the sadnessof passingtime and mortality.

The composition of Et in ArcadiaEgois echoed fairly closely in the Metropolitan's painting The Companionsof Rinaldo (fig. I5). Both feature figures whose progressdiagonallyto the right is halted against a raisedlandscapeand counterpoised trees. The looming rocky outcrop in Rinaldo also repeats the backgroundballastof the Midaspicture.

I9

liberata ^Rinaldo takesits subjectfrom Tasso'sverseepic Gerusalemme whichenlivensits treatmentof the FirstCrusade Delivered), (Jerusalem love affairs.In the relevantsectionof with exoticadventuresand star-crossed Tasso'spoem, the sorceressArmidahasfallenin lovewith the Christianchammostmagical pion Rinaldo-a firstencounterdocumentedin one of Poussin's paintings(now in the DulwichPictureGallery,London)-and has abducted him to her palaceon one of the FortunateIsles.Thereher magicspellshave seducedhim into obedientlyreturningher affection.In searchof theirfriend, the knightsCarloand Ubaldohavemadea long seajourneyto the islandin a boatsteeredby a mysterious,dove-eyedwomanof angelicmien, garbedin an iridescentrobe.Onshore,they find the wayblockedby a dragon.Carlodraws his swordbut is counseledby Ubaldoto employthe magicwandgivenhim by Peterthe Hermitbeforethey set out. Their confrontationwith the guardian beastis the subjectof the Metropolitan's painting. of Afterthe sylvanobscurities Midas,TheCompanions of Rinaldofairlyglistens with crispexcitement,partlyan effectof its pristinecondition.Watched by their calmly approvingpilot, the intrepid soldiers sport armorshiny enoughfor a parade,yet they are armedfor combatand alertto immediate danger.(Their Roman costume is an anachronism,since Tasso'stale takes placein the eleventhcentury.)A decorativedragonor sphinxadornsthe helmet of the wand-wieldingCarlo,echoingthe moreformidablesnarlingbeast on the ground.The innerovalof Ubaldo'sshieldrepeatsthe rhythmictwists and turnsof theirconvolutedantagonist,depictedby Poussinat the moment whenpoisonousrageturnsto fearfulretreat.The shieldbearsnarrativeas well as compositionalweight,sinceonly the reflectionof theirfriendRinaldo'spassive, bewitchedvisagein its polishedsurfacewill awakehim from Armida's enchantment.

Datingfromthe earlyI63os,this picturenumberedamongthe morethan fifty Poussinsoriginallyowned by Cassianodal Pozzo,alreadymentionedas one of the painter'smost importantpatrons.A passionateantiquarian,dal Pozzo formed an extensive museocartaceoor museumchartaceum(paper museum) comprising more than a thousand drawingsthat documented the survivingartistic splendorsof ancient Rome. Poussin'scontemporary PietroTestawasa maincontributorto this project,and the extentof Poussin's

OPPOSITE

15 Nicolas Poussin. The Companionsof Rinaldo, ca. I632. Oil on canvas, 46'/ x 40 /4in. (I8.I x 02oz.zcm). Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 1977 (1977.1.2)

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participationis still debated,since the artistdescribedhimselfnot as a producer but as a scolare(student)of the museum.An inventoryof Poussin's atelierdone overa decadeafterhis deathincluded"Abook of drawingsmade by monsieurPoussinfrom the Antique,afterRaphael,Giulio Romano,and others,forhis own use"(fatti...per suostudio).

The Metropolitan's drawingof a cineraryurn (fig. I6) is the sort of work that mighthavebeen includedin Poussin'sbook of classicaland Renaissance studies.Cinerariaservedthe Romansboth as votive altarsand as funerary receptaclesfor the ashesof the dead. Poussin'sdrawingwas begun in black chalk,stillclearlyvisiblein the unfinishedrams'heads.A quitesimilarreliefin the Vatican(fig. 17) has hornedsatyrson the sides;perhapsthe painterwas classicalprototype. improvisingaroundhis as-yet-unidentified x6 Nicolas Poussin. Cinerary Urn, after theAntique, midI630S. Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk, on paper, '/4x 87/8in. (z8.6 x 22.6 cm). Gift of

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Poussin employed a sequence ruled and careful freehand lines to define the horizontal and

vertical edges of the cinerarium.

The eagles are essentially symsuch as their different shadowing. As with noticeable metrical but variations, in his sketch of Castorand Pollux(fig. 7), Poussin employed light and shade to define not just form, but also a particulareffect of light. Linearinventiveness and variety can be seen in the serratedwing feathers of the left eagle. What distinguishedthe drawingsin Pozzo'spaper museum from those in other similar collections was their combination of beauty and accuracy.Lacking the specific model for Poussin's cinerarium study, we cannot evaluate the latter quality but can certainlyattest to the former.

While Poussin did six paintings and several drawings based on Tasso's Gerusalemmeliberata,his only illustration to the other principal Italian epic poem of the Renaissance,Ariosto's Orlandofurioso, is a single drawing now in the Metropolitan, TheSorcererAtlanteAbductingPinabellosLady(fig. i8). The composition of this lively sketch repeatsrearingcavaliersin profile, with their potential for combat minimized by the aerialadvantageof the winged steed.

Atlante's flying hippogriff, the offspring of a mare and a griffin, is all extended energy, its forelegs separatinginto claws silhouetted against the sky.

Pinabello'searthbound mount is more geometric in shape: a close look at its hind legs revealsthe artistic "splints"within which they were constructed. In the rather confusing linear interaction between Atlante and his captive, her left leg overlapshis right at mid-calf, while her right parallelsthe contour of the hippogriff'shaunches. Pinabello shields himself protectively,inadvertently offering a fragilelaunching pad for the airbornesteed. The beast'sright wing is foreshortened,while the left rises outward to createa diagonal that counters the body'smain upwardmotion. Added last, the landscapesetting includes an eccentric tree, which decorativelyfills the distance between the mounts, while the ground is defined in swift sequencesof hatching.

23

I8 Nicolas Poussin. The Sorcerer Atlante Abducting Pinabello's Lady, early I630S. Pen and brown ink on paper, 7 /8 x 47/6 in.

(19.4 x 11.3 cm). Bequest of Walter C. Baker,

'?

1971 (1972.118.224)

19 Jean-Honore Fragonard (I732-1806).

Rinaldo, Astride Baiardo, Flies Off in Pursuit ofAngelica, ca. 1795.

Black chalk with brown wash and touches of pen and brown ink on paper, I 7/6

x IO 5/6 in. (39.2 x 26.2 cm).

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Rosenwald Collection

24

France'sfinestillustrationsfor Orlandofuriosodid not appearuntil more than a centuryafterPoussin'ssketch.The gloriousdrawingsby Jean-Honore providean interestingalternativeto the solitaryworkby his distinFragonard In Fragonard's sequenceof Ariostoillustrations,subjects guishedpredecessor.

Flies suchas Rinaldo,AstrideBaiardo, Offin PursuitofAngelica(fig.I9) showa similar interest in dynamic equestrianactivity. But Fragonardshunned Poussin'slinearcontoursfor atmosphericluminosityand replacedhis sculptural-reliefprofilingwith recessiveillusionism.A kind of ChristianAchilles, Rinaldowas one of Charlemagne's greatestknightsand appearsin the extensive cast of charactersemployedby both Tassoand Ariosto.At the point in Ariosto'snarrativeillustratedby Fragonard's drawing,Rinaldois describedas "boilingoverwith anger,"a statedeftlyembodiedin the artist'seffulgentcomposition.A wingedallegoricalfigureglidesin the hero'swake,whilehis horse, Baiardo,soarsabovea foamingwaterfallthatwashesovera rivergod and two shynymphs. heRapeof theSabineWomen(fig.20) is a majorworkof Poussin's early 1 maturity,datableto I634.Probablymorethanany otherof his paintand ings, it defineshis kinshipwith and distancefromhis greatpredecessors A secondversionof the picturein the Louvreis generally contemporaries. it lacksthe authorityand muscular datedlater.Morecomplexlyorchestrated, impactof the firstpainting.

The Metropolitan'sRapeof the Sabine Womenwas one of two works painted by Poussin for the marechalde Crequi when he was the French to Romein I633-34 (the other,WomenBathing,is now lost). The ambassador largestof the Poussinsin the Museum,the pictureillustratesthe rusewhereby the foundersof Romegainedthe wivesrequiredto populatethe eternalcity.

Romulusand his men invitedthe neighboringSabinewarriorsto competein a seriesof sportingevents and to bring their familiesto watch. At a prearrangedsignalfrom their leader,the Romansabandonedathleticpretenses andseizedall availablewomen,excludingmothersandthe elderly.

In Poussin's on the platformat the left, pictureRomulusstandsmajestically and has just raisedthe hem of his robe, thus unleashingthe tumult below.

Paintedwith crystallineexactitude,the compositionsuggeststhe moment's confusionthroughits dramaticallyintersectinganglesand some disturbing portraitsof the imbroglio'sinnocentvictims,such as the old nurse,the children,the youngmother,and the agedmanwhoseformscombinein a major compositionaltrianglewith the splendidRomanwarriorin the right foreground.Clothedin a formfittinggoldenleatherlorica,which emphasizeshis heroicmusculature, this figureprovidesa majordiagonalaxisfor the picture, counteringtwo pairs of abductorsand victims on the left. Scholarshave

25

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Nicolas Poussin. The Rape of the Sabine Women, I634. Oil on canvas, 607/8 x 82/8 in.

(154.6 x 209.9 cm). Harris Brisbane Dick Fund,

2o

1946 (46.160) 27

doubtedthe accuracyof the lorica'scolor and shape,but the compositional importanceof this "Midastouch"mayhaveaffectedboth.

TheRapeof theSabineWomen marksa new peakin Poussin'sstudyand use Not was he influenced of sculpture. only creations by majorthree-dimensional of his predecessors andcontemporaries, but he alsohadbeguna personalpractice of makingsmallclayandwaxfiguremodels,whichhe placedon a miniaturetheatricalstage.TherePoussinworkedout the complicatedrhythmsand of his paintedcompositions. relationships In additionto the GaulKillingHimselfandHis Wife(fig. 6), the two pairs to the left of Poussin'sSabineWomenhaveprecedentsin othernotableItalian monuments.One importantinfluencewas the most magnificentof all Mannerist sculptures,Giambologna'sRapeof a SabineWoman,here illustrated in a contemporary chiaroscuro woodcut by Andrea Andreani (fig. 21).

Giambolognacomposedhis masterpieceas a purelyformalsolution to the problemof integratinga three-figure groupin a way that demandedan uninterrupted,encirclingscrutinyfromthe viewer.Only laterdid contemporaries urgehim to add the accompanyingnarrativereliefson its basethat specified his subjectmatter.

Like Giambologna, Poussin gave formal concerns great weight in

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Rape of a Sabine Woman, 1584. Chiaroscuro woodcut after Giambologna's marble sculpture group in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, completed 1583. 18'/4 x 8S/6 in.

2z Andrea Andreani (1558/59-I629).

(46.4 x 2I cm). Rogers Fund, I922

22 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680).

(2z.73.3-71)

The

Marble, h. Ioo3/ in.

Rape of Persephone, (255 cm). Borghese Gallery, Rome i621-22.

30

left of the SabineWomen.Poussin'sown use of largeblocksof shadowin his woodcuts. drawingsmaypossiblyhavebeeninfluencedby chiaroscuro Bernini's1621-22 Rapeof Persephone (fig. 22) obviouslyowes much to earlier but it the sculptor'scontinuousserpentineshape replaces Giambologna, with a more focusedviewpoint.Wonderfullyfinishedon all sides, Bernini's workcoalescesbest compositionallyfrom a frontalview.His strugglingduo, when reversed,anticipatesthe strikingcoupleson the left of the particularly Metropolitan's painting.The most classicalof Baroqueartists,Poussinstill demonstratedin his SabineWomena shrewdawarenessof Bernini'sflamboyant sculpturaldynamism.

Aroundthe time he paintedthe SabineWomen Poussinwas commissioned

by Cassianodal Pozzoto producea seriesof drawingsof figuresin actionfor an illustratededitionof Leonardoda Vinci'sTrattato on dellapittura(Treatise Painting),basedupon an abridgedmanuscriptthen in CardinalFrancesco Barberini's library.AlthoughPoussinwas laterto be deeplydissatisfiedwith the engravedadaptationsof CharlesErrardthatappearedin I65I, the painter's originaldrawingsare full of energy,complementingwhat he had seen and studied in sculpture.Poussin'sTrattatosketchesprovidedanothervaluable for the figuregroupsin his roughlycontemporary workslike the preparation Sabine Women.The leap from Poussin'sLeonardomanuscriptillustration, Hercules andAntaeus(fig. 23),to the Windsorpairof NudeMan LiftingUpa Woman(fig. 24), an earlystudyfor the SabineWomen, is not a broadone. In addition, Poussin'swork on the Trattatoincreased his familiarity with Leonardo's admonitionfor artiststo defineclearlythe age,sex,andsocialstratum of each individualin everycomposition,strategicadvicePoussinalways followed.

Sincethe secondarysubjectof the SabineWomen is the originof Rome,it is hardlysurprisingthat the residentBaroquemasterPietroda Cortonahad alreadypainteda grandversionof the eventin I625(fig.25).The considerably largerdimensionsof Cortona'scompositionaregiveneven greaterimpactby the scaleof his foregroundprotagonists,one powerfulgroupspanningalmost the whole height of the picture. Overall Cortona'stouch is softer, more painterlythan Poussin's.If Cortona'scompositionsharesPoussin'sindebtedness to classicalfriezes,it is farless effectiveat suggestingclearlydemarcated depth.

Cortona'sprincipalrecessionaldeviceinvolvesa dramaticdiminutionin scale,seen most obviouslyon the left. There the eye movesabruptly,from full-sizeforegroundfigures,to half-sizemiddle-groundfigures,to distantfiguresno morethanone-sixthof the originalscale.Poussin's spatialorganization is integralto his narrativeclarity,fargreaterthan in Cortona'spicture,where King Romulusis a minor footnote and the dynamicmovementsof natural elementsanddraperies areas importantas the identitiesof the protagonists.

3I

23 Nicolas Poussin. Hercules and

Antaeus, early I630S. Illustration for Leonardo da Vinci's Trattato della pittura. Pen and wash drawing on paper.

Ambrosiana Library, Milan. From Friedlander and Blunt, Drawings of Nicolas Poussin, vol. 4, no. 265

'l l 1

24 Nicolas Poussin. Nude Man Lifting Up a Woman, ca. I633. Study for The Rape of the Sabine Women. Pen and wash on paper.

Windsor Castle, Royal Library. ? 1992

copyright Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

32

The Rape of the Sabines, 1625. Oil on canvas, Io8/4 x Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669). x I66/2 in. (275 423 cm). Capitoline Museum, Rome

25

An even more striking contrast to the Poussin can be seen in the similarsized, contemporaryversion of The Rape of the Sabines (fig. 26) painted by Peter Paul Rubens, Poussin'sposthumous antagonist in later FrenchAcademy debates over the relative importance of color and line (for at least two centuries after Poussin'sdeath, extending through the opposition of Delacroix and Ingres,Frenchartistswould be divided into color-captivated"Rubenistes"and line-loving "Poussinistes").Rubens garbed his women in contemporaryFlemish costume, hardly more anachronistic than his inventive Baroque restatements of backgroundarchitectureand figure types. His abductorsseize Sabine women so bounteously ample that the mesomorphic men can scarcely lift them, much less carry them off. The protagonists'movements are part of an overall compositional sweep that, apart from its general orientation to the diagonal, has little to do with geometry. For example, Rubens would never have made the blades of three convergingweapons suggest the shape of a perfect pentagon, as Poussin did near the center of the Metropolitan'spainting (see p. 35). Furthermore,unlike Poussin'sstatuesqueoverseer,Rubens'sRomulus conducts uncertainly from his curule chair in the upper right, providing an ellipticalclimax to much clumsierchoreographybelow.

33

Peter Paul Rubens The Rape of the Sabines, late I630S. Oil on canvas, 66 7/8 x 93 in.

26

(1577-I640).

(I69.9 x 236.2

cm).

National Gallery, London

Over a century and a half later, Poussin'smost gifted artistic "grandson," Jacques-LouisDavid, offered a denouement to the tumult of the earlierpicture. In 1799, afteralmost five yearsof labor, David completed his Intervention of the Sabine Women(fig. 27) and made a great deal of money charging each viewer almost two francsto examine his epic allegoricalimage of post-Revolutionary reconciliation. Taking up Poussin'sstory some years later, when the Sabine men had steeled their courageto reclaimtheir wives, David showed the women-now deeply settled into domesticity with their former kidnappersdeploying their vulnerable beauty and recent offspring to halt the renewed conflict. Not only did David conclude the narrativebegun in Poussin'sSabine Women,but he reconstitutedthe older master'sstyle with such success that his Neoclassicism dominated French academic practice for the next half century, much in the way Poussin'sown approachhad in the fifty years following his death.

In the earlyI86os EdgarDegas worked for a year at the Louvreto complete a full-sized copy (fig. 28) of Poussin'ssecond version of The Rape of the Sabine Women.According to the Irish writer George Moore, a friend of the artist, Degas'swork was "asfine as the original."Certainlythe picture documents the

34

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Jacques-Louis David (1748-I825). Intervention of the Sabine Women, ca.

1795-99. Oil on canvas, 152 X 204 in. (385 x 522 cm).

27

Musee du Louvre, Paris

28 Edgar Degas (1834-1917).

The Rape of the Sabines, ca.

I86I-63. Copy after Poussin's version in the Louvre. Oil on canvas, 59 x 8II/2in.

(149.9 X 207 cm). Norton

Simon Foundation, Pasadena, California

36

for the sharpfocus and compositional reverenceof the acerbicImpressionist richnessof the earliermaster.Degas'sreplicademonstratesthat even in the secondhalf of the nineteenthcenturyPoussin'srigoroussenseof application and compositionalstructurestill had serioussupportersamid the lightening freedomsof Frenchart.

ften quotedwith regardto Poussinis a letterin whichhe mentions adaptingfor paintingthe Greeknotionof fivemusicalmodes:Phrygian,Lydian,Hypolydian,Ionian,and Dorian.Poussindid not know (nordo we) what thesetypesof musicactuallysoundedlike, but he appliedhis conworksfalloutside ceptionof themto his painting.Althoughmanyof Poussin's the artist'sdescriptionof suchmodes,somepicturesclearlyexemplifythe categories.Phrygianhe definedas "vehement,raging,harsh,"and the Metropolitan'sRapeof the SabineWomencertainlyepitomizesthis mode. The Dublin Deposition (fig.29) is an exampleof the Lydianmode,whichthe artistconsidered appropriate"forpitiablesituations."In this late masterpiecethe dead Christ'smagnificentbodywasborrowedfroma drawingby Michelangelothat inspiredthe figurein the Depositionby Sebastianodel Piombo at Viterbo.

Christ'srestingrightand raisedleft armformpartof an interrupted,sagging ellipseof deep sorrow,expressedin a sequenceof tenderand demonstrative grievinghands.

O

The Metropolitan'slate drawing of the Lamentationover the Dead Christ (fig. 30) has been related to the Dublin work, although its central trio much more closely reprisesthe group from an early Deposition(fig. 31) now in Saint Petersburg (as well as figures from Raphael's Entombmentin the Borghese Gallery).Forsakinghis distinctive blocks of wash, Poussin shaded the drawing with hatching, which descends diagonallyfrom upper right to lower left. The more orderlypattern of parallellines contrastswith the sweeping curves that delineate the figures. Situated in the center, Mary is posed much like the Madonna of Michelangelo'sPietr, although it is Saint John and a triangular block below that provide the principalsupport for the collapsing Christ. The varied poses of the other charactersoffer a grammarof grief, rangingfrom the delicate tear-dabbingof the standing figure on the extreme right to the crumpled agony of the next personageto the left, who appearsphysicallyill. In the left distance are visible the three crosses, one barely discernible behind the standing mourner. Christ'scentral cross is shown with an adjustedhorizontal bar.His body is defined with a frissonof lines descendingpast the knees. Such expressive quivers document the palsy-called by the artist his "trembling hand"-that afflictedPoussinin his late yearsand made working so difficult.

The Ionian mode, describedas "of a joyous nature,"can be applied to the Youthof Bacchus(fig. ii). The Hypolydian, incorporating"acertain sweetness

37

29 Nicolas Poussin. The

Deposition, ca. I657. Oil on canvas, 37 x II/4 in. (94 x 130.2 cm). National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

30 Nicolas Poussin.

Lamentation over the Dead Christ, late I65os. Pen and brown ink, 37/6 x 65/8in.

(8.7 x 15.5 cm). Rogers Fund, 1961 (61.123.1)

38

Nicolas Poussin. The Deposition, ca. I630. Oil on canvas, 47 x 39 in. (II9.4 x 31

99.I cm). Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg.

Reproduced in Anthony

Blunt, Nicolas Poussin,vol.

2,

no. 30, pl.

5z.

Thomas J. Watson Library

and softness,"Poussindeemed "suitablefor religioussubjects,glories and imagesof heaven,"suchas his ascendingVirginor his SaintPaul,both now in the Louvre,while the "balanced,solemn, and severe"Dorian describeshis mostcarefullycraftedstoiclandscapes,like the celebratedpairof picturesconcerning the remainsof the unjustly condemned Phocion (in the Cardiff WalkerArtGallery,respectively).

MuseumandLiverpool's SaintsPeterandJohnHealingtheLameMan (fig. 32) is also best described as a Dorianwork,andit is one of the finestexamplesof Poussin'scomplexand austerelatestyle,whichBelloriandothersubsequentcriticsdubbedthe artist's manieramagnifica(magnificentmanner),after a phraseemployedby the by the Renaissance painterhimself.Stronglyinspiredby Raphael,particularly master'stapestrycartoons,Poussin'slater compositionsfeaturerichlyinterwovenarchitectural anglesandtightlybut creativelydisposedfigures.

39

ob

32 Nicolas Poussin. Saints Peter andJohn

Healing the Lame Man, ca. 1655. Oil on canvas, 49/2 x 65 in. (I25.7 x I65.I cm). Marquand Fund, 1924

(24.45.2)

4I

33 Nicolas Poussin.

Madonna of the Steps, ca. I648. Oil on canvas, z8 I/ x 44 in. (72.4 x 111.7 cm).

ClevelandMuseum of Art, LeonardC. Hanna, Jr., Fund, 8I.I8

Another masterpieceof this style, the Madonna of the Steps(fig. 33), crystallizes geometric coherence and architecturalconvergence in an ordered clarity that can be fully appreciatedwhen compared to the busy profusion of accessories in an earliersketch from the Morgan Library(fig. 34). Raphaelnot only offered a general compositional influence for the Madonna of the Steps,but also provided the specific prototypes for Poussin'sfiguresof Mary and Jesus in his Madonna of the Fish (fig. 35). The complex interactionsof Saints Peterand John Healing the Lame Man are also staged around a wide triangle, but its largercast demanded more elaboratechoreography.

The biblical story, in chapter 3 of the Acts of the Apostles, gives all the words and action to Peter, whose vocal exhortation and physical assistance produced the first miracle performed by any apostle after Christ'sdeath: the raising up of a lifelong cripple to walk at the entrance to the temple in Jerusalem.In giving John ratherthan Peter the first physical contact, Poussin departed from the biblical text. His younger apostle lifts the left hand of the afflicted beggar to where it almost reachesthe descending right hand of Peter and simultaneouslypoints skywardwith his left hand to indicate the source of their newfound powers. Thus poised before touching, the hands of Peter and the cripple echo Michelangelo'spregnant interval between the hands of Adam and God on the Sistine ceiling. In both cases the divine spark invisibly leaps 42

34 Nicolas Poussin. TheHoly Family,ca.

I645. Black chalk, pen, and wash on paper, 7A4 x 97/8 in. (18.4 x z1S. cm).

Pierpont Morgan Library,New York

35 Raphael (1483-1520). Madonna of the Fish, 15I4. Oil on canvas, 845/ x 62I/4 in. (215x 158cm). Prado, Madrid

43

the short distanceto animateintractablematter.Quite likely,compositional exigenciespushedPoussinto ignorethe fact that in the biblicalaccountthe cripple'srighthandreceivedthe transmittedhealing.

In his lettersPoussinexplainedhow he wishedviewersto "read"his picand how he derived tures.Art historianshavespokenof his visual"rhetoric," fromthe classicaltraditionthe use of clearmimeticgesturesfor his figuresand the divisionof the pictureinto principaland subsidiaryactions.Thus the rich centralfocusof SaintsPeterandJohncomesas the culminationof otherlesser groupings,which establishtheir distinctiveorganizationalpatternswithout threateningthe unityof the whole. Figureson the rightleadus to the central action.An ascendingand descendinggroup,studiesin movementand countermovement,createa near-perfectrhombusas they pass on the stairs.The womanbearinga basketon herheadat the extremerightreceives caryatid-like a distant echo from a slimmerfigurebetween the columns of the temple facadeat the left. Fromthe lowerleft, wherethe moremundanegift of almsis droppedto the begging mother on the steps, the vieweris led upwardto of healing.As in the Madonnaof theSteps(fig.33), Peter'sdramaticdispensation unexpectedandfelicitousfallsof lightanimatethe soft extremitiesof the poor woman'schild.

TheodoreGericaultbasedhis interestingsketchafterthe Metropolitan's painting(fig.36) upon an engraving,sincehis workreversesthe picture'scomposition.Muchin the way Poussinhimselfmighthavedone, Gericaultset up majorcompositionaloppositionsof horizontalsandverticals,and boldlyconstructedprincipalfigureswith strongcontoursand potent blocksof shadow, whilehe eliminatedsomesecondarysubjects.ThuswasPoussin,the greatstuof antiquity,himselfrephrased dent and reconstructor by the earlynineteenth century'smostintenseandpromisingadapterof classicalenergy. lateworkmaynot be so immediatelyobviousas in The passionof Poussin's the rainbow-huedeffortsof his youth. Nevertheless,passionremaineda central concern,and his methodsfor its portrayalparallelthose of such sevenas CorneilleandRacine,a comparisonmade Frenchdramatists teenth-century more feasibleby contemporarytheatricalobservanceof the threeunitiesof time, place,and action.Thus the eventsin most classicalplaystranspirein one place over the courseof one day. Classicalcharactersall speak in the alexandrinemeter,a restrictionthe dramatiststurnedto the sameexpressive makestheirsteadfast visibleorder.Theirclarityof self-analysis use as Poussin's devotionto reasonandvirtueor theiremotionaldeviationand downfallfrom it all the more poignant.Poussinachieveshis "unities"throughhis pictorial structureand his gesturalcharacterization, creatinga coherenceof surface geometry,recessionalspace, and complexlylinked psychologyamong his protagonists.

OPPOSITE

Detail of Poussin'sSaints Peter andJohn Healing the Lame Man 44

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36 Theodore Gericault (179I-I824).

Saints Peter and

John Healing the Lame Man. Drawing after Poussin's painting with the composition reversed.From the "CarnetZoubaloff,"folio 69, Cabinet des Dessins, Musre du Louvre,Paris

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in Poussin'sown Whilethe parallelto dramahasbeennotedposthumously, era painting was often linked to poetry. Horace'smaxim utpicturapoesis(as is painting, so is poetry) was used to argue that good painting and good poetry must seek, through a similar imitation of human action, the expression of truth. Such ageless wisdom was properly embodied in well-known subjects, incorporatinga wide rangeof emotions and including a messageboth instructive and pleasing. Then, as now, Poussin'sworks were offered as paradigmsof such an approach.

p

Moussinformedhis art from a mix of such reveredand disparateinflu-

ences as the antique, Raphael,and Titian, and from his closer classicizing predecessors, the Carracci and Domenichino. Even artists to whom Poussin bore no apparent similarity,such as Giambologna, Caravaggio,and Bernini, provided him with raw material. His heterogeneous successors included rigorousor aspiringclassicistslike Jacques-LouisDavid and Alexandre Cabanel, Rococo or Romantic masterslike Sir Joshua Reynolds (who owned the Metropolitan's Blind Orion, fig. 39), Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Theodore Gericault, and Eugene Delacroix, and precursorsof modern art like Edgar Degas and Paul Cezanne. Exceptionalinnovatorslike Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse tightened their compositional skills by copying Poussin'swork. Thus Poussin provides a central crossroadsin the history of French painting, without which majormovements fail to connect or to make coherent sense.

PerhapsPoussin'smost intriguing relationshipwas with his friend Claude 46

Lorrain.That the two greatestFrench artists of the period should both have passed their careers far away in Rome seems surprising, particularly when Louis XIV, the Sun King, succeeded his father at mid-century as the most powerful monarch and one of the most munificent art patrons in Europe.

That both artistsshould have played separatekey roles in the development of landscape painting is even more unexpected. They were friends who sometimes studied together; Sandrartdescribed riding to Tivoli with Poussin and Claude "to paint or drawlandscapesfrom nature."

Comparing two handsome drawings by the artists helps us grasp something of their different approaches.Poussin'sA WoodedBank Along the Tiber (fig. 37) was done outdoors, at a stretchof the riverthat Blunt has identified as just above the Ponte Molle. It is a work in which Poussin, as a landscape draftsman,conjoined two opposing traditions, those of ideal Italian line and expressivenorthern shadow. The Italian approach, representedby artists like Domenichino and Annibale Carracci,employed a range of linear sequences to order the forms and patternsof the landscapeunder the strong southern sun.

The northernprocedurereflectedits origins in a more ominous and capricious weather cycle with its emphasis on an alternation of light and shade, a chiaroscurothat shapes outdoor drama. Poussin's Tiberlandscape mixes the staccatopen punctuation of the Italianswith the rich and dramaticshadows of the northerndraftsmen.

Representingthe view from Monte Mario, near Raphael'sVilla Madama, where the artist frequentlysketched, Claude'sview of the Tiber (fig. 38) is one of the greatestof all landscapedrawings.Rivalingthe abbreviatedeloquence of Chinese paintings, Claude's singular work is purely the i product of a loaded brush and a "blotting" technique, without the lines to undercut its

atmosphereor restrictthe saturated mood. In regardto its lighting, the sweeping breadth and contrastof Claude'sdrawing support the conventional

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37 Nicolas Poussin. A WoodedBank Along the Tiber,ca. 1640. Pen and brown wash, 6 /,6 x 5 in. (16.4 x I2.8 cm). Mus&eFabre,Montpellier

47

38 Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellee, 16o4/5?-I682). Land-

scape with the Tiberfrom Monte Mario, ca. I650. Wash drawing, 73/8 x 10/. in. (I8.5 x 26.8 cm). British Museum,

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wisdom that he commonly chose the more spectaculareffects of sunrise and sunset (a northern preference,despite successfullyembodying Italian pastoral themes in his work), while the detail and focus of Poussin'ssketch suggest that his illumination reflectsthe even clarityof high noon.

P

aintedaboutI658,Blind OrionSearchingforthe RisingSun (fig. 39) is

one of Poussin'smost memorablelate landscapemasterpieces,in which he applied his "magnificentmanner"to the riches of nature. Each of the Metropolitan'sthree great Poussinsprovides an eloquent visual treatise:the Sabine Womenoffers a poetics of movement, the Saints Peter and Paul a poetics of space, and the Blind Oriona poetics of atmosphere.In its harmonious unity of mood and setting, Poussin'sBlind Orioncompetesfavorablywith the miraculous landscapes of his friend Claude and simultaneously recapturesthe Venetian poetry of his youth, now cooler, calmer, and significantly refined after a lifetime of picture making and observation.

Like its execution, the subject of the painting is richly complex, almost without precedent or successorin the history of art. It has been evoked with surpassingeloquence by William Hazlitt and discussedwith formidableerudition by E. H. Gombrich. Orion, the giant of the picture, had three divine fathers,Neptune, Jupiter,and Apollo, who symbolized the elements of water, air, and fire (in this case embodied by the sun). Blinded by the goddess Diana for attempting to rape the nymph Aerope, Orion had to seek the rising sun to regainhis sight.

In Poussin's picture Orion is directed in his quest by a workman from Vulcan'sforge, Cedalion, who rides atop his shoulders, and Vulcan himself, 48

who standsalongsidethe roadbelow.The central,stormycloudsuponwhich Dianaleansareboth a metaphorfor Orion'sevil deedanda symbolof his oriof air, gins,sincecloudsrepresentthe comminglingof his paternaltriumvirate water,and sunshine.The changingmistssuggesta cycleof sufferingand reconciliation,while the blastedtreestumpsand darkcaveadd a sinisterevocation of spentsexualviolenceandpassion.

Althoughalso createdduring the seventeenthcentury,the Orion from JacquesBellange'sdrawingat the MorganLibrary(fig. 40) could hardlybe more differentfrom Poussin'sfee-fi-fo-fumgiant, and it illustrateshow far behindPoussinhad left the persistingFrenchManneristpreoccupation with elaboratesurfaceornamentation.

Bellange's lightinventionembodiesthe flamboyanceand excessesof that late Manneriststyle in which Poussingrewup and to whichhis matureBaroqueclassicismevolvedas stylisticandmoralcorrective.Poisedon his toes, Bellange's Oriongentlycaresses,both with his loving gazeand his righthand, the goddessDiana,whom he carrieseffortlessly on his shoulders.BellangeembellishesOrion'sRoman costumewith outlandishfringesand furbelows,so thatalmosteveryline of the drawingflutters likewindblowndrapery.

Poussin'sOrion,on the otherhand,appearsmodeledin clayor hewnfrom the samemagnificentchestnuttreesandilex,or evergreenoak,thatexceedhis greatheight. He plods forwardflat-footed,his left arm extendedtentatively for balanceand protectionin spite of the cleardirectionsCedalionseemsto offerfromhis positionatopthe giant'sshoulders.Orion'sdynamiccourseinto the paintingis chartedby the trailsof vaporthatpassbesidehim (openingup just enoughto allowa blue halo of sky aroundhis head)and createthe solid cloud formationthat supportsDiana,who, in her insouciantpose, showsno sign of sympathyfor the colossus'ssoon-to-be-cureddisability.The chilly moon goddessis a paleblue,with her rightarmcatchingsome of the distant sunshinethat illuminesthe edge of the gatheringclouds.Sacheverell Sitwell's notes for his two eloquentpoemson the paintingsuggestthat "shewill fade out of the skyas soon as Orionrecovershis sight."

Poussin'slandscapesrelateto naturalsceneryin the sameway as his heroic is a refiningandrestructuring figuresrelateto everydaypeople;his "classicism" throughart.In discussingBlindOrion,Hazlittwrote: To give us nature,such as we see it, is well and deservingof praise;to give us nature, such as we have never seen but have often wished to see it, is better and deserving of higher praise.... His art is a second nature, not a different one.

A Sacheverell Sitwellcoupletsuggeststhe specialatmosphereof the Metropolitan'spicture: This past is another land, a place of air, Clear air on hills and softly whispering winds....

49

o0

39 Nicolas Poussin. Blind Orion Searchingfor the Rising Sun, I658. Oil on canvas, 467/8 x 72 in. (119.1 x I82.9 cm). Fletcher Fund, I924 (24.4.1I)

5I

Blind Orion serves to illustrate one of the most complex of Poussin'sconnections to subsequent art, his relationship with Paul Cezanne. Distinguished scholars have argued the authenticity of the quoted goal attributed to Cezanne: "to re-do Poussin over again afterNature."But there can be little doubt that some affinity of heroic resolution or synthesis of disparateparts unites the two artistsin a common "classical" spirit. When Blind Orion is set alongside Cezanne's epic Mont Sainte-Victoire, now in the Courtauld Institute Galleries(fig. 41), the drasticdifferences in handling, color, and subject matter are

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mutedby the basicsimilaritiesof pictorialconstruc/ tion. The swirlingaerialexpansionof Cezanne'spine . i' r"r\ branches is paralleled by the profuse growth of '~ /7?

Poussin'smighty oaks and the burgeoningBaroque , F ' : " of his darkened,gilt-edgedclouds. In *\ly^> S Eaccumulation both pictures the distant mountain focuses and :NL? itj, ? anchors all the surrounding subsidiaryactivity. This ~ _' remarkablepairingof the methodicalPoussinand the perseveringCezannealso offersconvincingevidence that the more valid stereotype for a great -4,,? f?f7cpainteris not the facileprodigybut the drivenand j: , \ Kf; inspiredworkmanwho "neglectsnothing" in the : :;,.-.:1 i ~,. struggleto achieveelusivepictorialharmonies. discussionof BlindOrionhasshownhow Poussin'ssubjectwas Gombrich's classicaltext and enrichedby NatalisComes'scontempo40 Jacques Bella nge (active inspiredby Lucian's 602o-I6). TheH unter which turnsOrion'sstoryinto an allegoryof Orion, rarymythologicalcommentary, ca. I6Io. Pen and brown I the elements:"thedramaof the circulationof waterin nature."The giantsupwash, 13/4 X 7/8 i11n. portinga figureon his shoulderrelatesthe thememoregenerallyto the whole (35X 20 cm). Pieirpont question of artistic heritage and influence, and the oft-repeatedquarrel Morgan Library,New York As anthologizedwith and the "moderns." betweenthe meritsof the "ancients" of greatwit and eruditionby RobertK. Mertonin his book On theShoulders Giants:A ShandeanPostscript,the frequentlyrepeatedliteraryimage of a dwarflikemodernthinkerbuildingon the achievementsof the titansof the pairingof Orionand Cedalionto invoke pastcan be connectedwith Poussin's the nature of originality and influence. A formulation of this recurrent metaphor dating from Poussin'sown time was offered by Pere Marin Mersenne, a learned friar of the Minim mendicant order who was well with Descartesandthe youngPascal.In his I634publication,Quesacquainted sont conteniies danslesquelles tionsHarmoniques, plusieurschosesremarquables f.

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pour la Physique,pour la Morale,etpour lesautresSciences(HarmonicQuestions, in WhichAre ContainedSeveralRemarkableThingsfor Physics,for Morality,and for the OtherSciences),Mersennewrote: For,as is said, it is quite easyand even necessaryto see fartherthan our predecessors,when we aremountedon theirshoulders:a situationwhich does not prevent us from being deeplyin theirdebt.

Thus, in addition to its previously cited wealth of suggestive meaning, Poussin'sgreatlandscapealso can be readas a hieroglyphof his own careerrole and his goal as an artist. Poussin was both a rediscovererand extender of (as well as guide to) the heroic achievement of antiquity, in his own time the painter most clearly standing "on the shoulders of giants." Thus did a man frequentlyperceivedas a synthesizersee beyond the ancient vision, becoming, in the admiring words of Delacroix, "one of the most imposing innovators which the history of painting has to offer."

As his lifetime of painstakinglabor drew to a close, Poussin had certainly earned some autumnal ease. The last eyewitness testimony about the painter came less than six months before his death, from the artist-dealerAbraham Breugel,who told the collector Don Antonio Ruffo that Poussin "does nothing other than occasionally enjoy a little glass of wine with my neighbor Claude Lorrain."Although Claude would survive Poussin by more than a decade and a half, the description of such distinguished friends sharing good conversationand un petit verreup to the end offers a delightful closing image.

Poussin'sdeath deservedto be markedby greatergravity.The declarationof his brother-in-lawJean Dughet to Chantelou intoned an appropriatenote of emphatic solemnity: "YourHighness has no doubt heard of the death of the famous M. Poussin, or rather,of painting itself."Yet painting was hardlydead.

For nearly two and a half centuries after Poussin'sdemise, his works would enrich, stimulate, and restrainthe great European academic tradition. Ironically, but thanks in no small part to his example, artistic preeminence passed 41 Paul Cezanne (1839-I906). Mont Sainte-Victoire, ca. 1887.

Oil on canvas, 26/4 x 363/8 in. (66.8x 9.3 cm). Courtauld Institute Galleries,London

54

Detail of Blind Orion Searchingfor the Rising Sun

from his adopted Italy to his native Francesoon after his death. Poussin'ssubject paintings and his landscapescan be daunting in their intricate construction, but they are artifactsof the true painter, not "too precise in every part," but invariablystrengthenedwith "sweetdisorder."Even if their erudition and elaboration make quick appreciation difficult, their concentrated natural beauty and heroic human activity offer an important messagefor anyone willing to look closely. Poussin still has a story to tell. The viewer who has carefully studied some of Poussin's assiduous efforts (duplicating the detailed observationalreadyprofitablymade by many subsequent artists) can certainly join with Cezanne in saying: By looking at the work of a master, I hope to get a better sense of myself; every time I come away from Poussin I know better who I am.

55

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

EverettFahy,JoanHolt, FrancisHuemer,Dick Keresey,Helen Mules, ToniaPayne,CarlosPic6n, MarySprinsonDe Jesus,GretchenWold.

PHOTOGRAPH CREDITS Color photographyof Museumworksby PatriciaMazzaof The MetropolitanMuseumof Art PhotographStudio. Black-and-whitephotographs by the staffof the PhotographStudioand contributinginstitutionsunless otherwisenoted. Fig. 2: Reuniondes museesnationaux.Fig. 4: Frederic Jaulmes.Fig. 5:Lauros-Giraudon.

Fig. 7: PhotographieGiraudon.Fig. 8: Alinari/ArtResource.Fig. Io: Reuniondes museesnationaux.Fig. In: Reuniondes museesnationaux.Fig. I4: CourtauldInstituteof Art. Fig. 22: Soprintendenza per I BeniArtisticie Storicidi Roma.Fig. 25: Archivi Alinari.Fig. 27: Reuniondes museesnationaux.Fig. 36: Reuniondes museesnationaux.Fig. 37: FredericJaulmes.

NOTES The letterin which Poussinexplainswhy he had Poussincorrespondence: to paint his own portraitfor ChanteloudatesfromAugust2, I648, and the referenceappearson p.I32, in Nicolas Poussin,Lettresetpropossur I'art,editedby AnthonyBlunt, Paris,1964:"J'aurais dejafait mon portraitpourvous l'envoyer,ainsicomme vous desirez.Mais il me fachede depenserune dizainede pistolespour une tete de la facon du sieur Mignard,qui est celui que je connaisqui les fait le mieux, quoiquefroids, piles, fardeset sansaucunefaciliteni vigueur."The letterin which Poussindescribeshis ill healthto dal Pozzodatesfrom about 1629,and the referenceis on p.25 in Blunt: J'aipris,cette fois encore,l'assurance d'ecrirela presente,ne pouvantmoi-memevenirla saluer,parla raison d'une indispositionqui m'estsurvenue,pour la supplierde toutes mes forcesde m'aideren quelquechose, en ayanttant besoin parceque, la plupartdu temps,je suis malade,alorsque je n'aiaucunrevenupour vivreautreque le travailde mes mains."The letterin which Poussinsuggestshis pictureswill not displeasethosewho know how to "read"them was writtenabouthis painting TheIsraelitesGatheringMannato fellow artistJacquesStellaabout I637. The passagein which he describes detailsand aspectsof the paintingas "choses,comme je crois,qui ne deplairontpas a ceux qui les saurontbien lire"is publishedin Blunt on p. 27. The letterin which Poussinexplainsthe modes of Greekmusicwas writtento Chantelouon November24, 1647,and is publishedon pp. of Blunt.

I2I-I25 3: Page AlthoughAnthonyBlunt'sexcellentnew edition of Chantelou's Diary of the CavaliereBerninisVisitto France,Princeton,I985,makesthis importantdocumentavailablein English,the firstFrenchedition, with Bernini'sremarksfrequentlygiven in Italian,appearedin a sequenceof articlespresentedby LudovicLalannein GazettedesBeaux-Arts, beginning in August1877. The quotesI havecited are,in order:"O il grande "IIsignorPoussine un pittoreche lavoradi la";"Voi favoleggiatore!"; m'avetedato oggi un grandissimodisgusto,mostradomila virtud'un uomo che mi fa conoscereche non so niente."

Page6: GiovanniPietroBellori'slife of Poussinwas partof his Le Vitede' pittori,scultoriet architettimoderni,firstpublishedin Rome, I672, and reprintedin Rome, I93I. Page7: The wordsspokenby Marinito CardinalBarberini,"Vedereteun giovaneche a une furiadi diavole,"appearin Rogerdes Piles,Abregede la vie despeintres, Paris, I715, p. 459.

PageIO: Poussin'squote on Caravaggiowas recordedby AndreFelibien desplus excellents in his Entretienssurlesvieset surlesouvrages peintres Trevoux(Paris)I725,vol 3, p. 194:"M. Poussin. .ne ancienset modernes, monde pour venu au pouvaitrien souffrirdu Caravage,et disaitqu'iletait detruirela peinture." invaluableinformationon the lives of Page14: Joachimvon Sandrart's painters,originallypublishedin many importantseventeenth-century edited by I675-79, is containedin his two-volume TeutscheAcademie..., A. R. Pelzer,Munich, I925. The quote about the visit to see the Titian bacchanalsis on p. 270 and the referenceto the Tivoli sketchingtour on p. 184.

PageI9: Panofsky'sessay"Etin ArcadiaEgo:On the Conceptionof Transciencein Poussinand Watteau"firstappearedin Philosophy and History, to ErnstCassirer, editedby R. Klibanskyand H. J. Paton, EssaysPresented Oxford,1936,pp. 223-254, and was laterreprintedas "Etin ArcadiaEgo: Poussinand the ElegiacTradition"in Panofsky'sMeaningin the Visual Arts,New York,1955,pp. 295-320.

Page34: A referenceto Degas takinga yearto makea copy of Poussin's Sabines"asfine as the original"appearsin GeorgeMoore, Impressions and Opinions,London,1891,p. 321.

Page49: Forquoted materialfromWilliamHazlittand Sacheverell Sitwell,see referencescited underSpecialStudiesof Metropolitan Paintings.

Page52: Cezanne'scommentabout "redoingPoussin"was firstrecorded

by CharlesCamoinin 1905(see CharlesMorice, "Enquetesurles tendancesactuellesdes artsplastiques,"Mercurede France,no. 56,AugustI, I905, p. 353)and mentionedas a rememberedremarkfrom 1904 by Francis Jourdan("Aproposd'un peintredifficile,Cezanne,"Artsde France, no. 5, I946, p. 7). The historyof the statementis detailedby Richard Shiff in Cezanneand theEnd ofImpressionism, Chicago,I984, pp. I8o-I83.

Page54: PereMarinMersenne'sremarkis quotedin RobertK. Merton, On theShouldersof Giants,New York,1985,p. 76: "...car,comme l'on dit, il est bien facileet mesmenecessairede voir plus loin que nos devanciers,lors que nous sommesmontezsur leursespaules:ce qui Delacroix'squote comes n'empeshepas que nous leursoyonsredevables." from his essayon Poussinpublishedin MoniteurUniverse,on June 26, I853:"On a tant repetequ'ilest le plus classiquedes peintres,qu'onsera peut-etresurprisde le voir traitedanscet essaicomme l'un des novateurs les plus hardisque presentel'histoirede la peinture."The famousquote

by AbrahamBreugel,a notablestill-lifepainteras well as an artdealer, was firstprintedin VincenzoRuffo'sarticle(whichincludesmanyother documents)entitled"GalleriaRuffo nel SecoloXVII in Messina"in Bolettino dArte,Roma,1916,p. I73. It statesthat Poussin"adessonon fa piu niente altroche dellevolte per diletto d'un bicchierinodi vino buono con mio vicino ClaudioLorenese,et apuntohieriserabevessimoallaSanitadi V.S. Ill.ma (PrinceRuffo)...."

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OskarBatschmann.NicolasPoussin:Dialecticsof Painting.London,I990.

Anthony Blunt. NicolasPoussin,3 vols. London, 1966-67.

Anthony Blunt. PoussinDrawings.New Haven, I979.

WalterFriedlander.NicolasPoussin,A NewApproach.New York,1966.

Alain Merot. NicolasPoussin.New York,I990.

KonradOberhuber.Poussin,TheEarlyYearsin Rome,TheOriginsof FrenchClassicism.FortWorth,1988.

ClarePace.FelibiensLifeofPoussin.London,1980.

RichardVerdi.Cezanneand Poussin:the ClassicalVisionof Landscape.

Edinburgh,I990.

SPECIALSTUDIES OF METROPOLITANPAINTINGS BrysonBurroughs."TwoPicturesby Poussin"[Blind OrionSearchingfor theRisingSunand SaintsPeterandJohnHealingtheLameMan ], MetropolitanMuseumofArt Bulletin, 19 (April1924), pp. 100-104.

JaneCostello."TheRapeof theSabineWomenby Nicolas Poussin,"MetropolitanMuseumofArt Bulletin,5 (April1947), pp. 197-204.

ErnstGombrich."TheSubjectof Poussin'sOrion,"BurlingtonMagazine, 84 (1944,)pp. 37-38, 41, reprintedin SymbolicImages,London, 1972,pp.

119-122.

WilliamHazlitt. "On a Landscapeof Nicolas Poussin,"firstpublishedin LondonMagazine,August1821.Also in TheCompleteWorks "Table-Talk", of WilliamHazlitt,21 vols., editedby P.PHowe, London, I93I(reprinted

by AMS Press,New York,1967),in vol 8, pp. 168-174. with the Giant Orion"and "Landscape SacheverellSitwell."Landscape with the Giant Orion (SecondVersion),"with notes, in Canonsof Giant in HeroicLandscapes, London,I933.The two poems Art-Twenty Torsos arereprintedin Sitwell'sCollectedPoems,London,I936.

56

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION

OFARTBULLETIN THEMETROPOLITAN MUSEUM Titleofpublication: Publicationno.: 885-660 Date offiling. October I, 1992 No. of issuespublishedannually:Four Annualsubscription price.$22.oo, or freeto MuseumMembers Locationof knownofficeofpublication:Iooo FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y.Iooz2-o198 Namesand addresses ofpublisher,editor,and managingeditor: PublisherThe MetropolitanMuseumof Art, 1ooo FifthAvenue, New York,N.Y. IOZ8-0I98 EditorJoanHolt, Iooo FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y. Ioo28-oI98 ManagingEditorNone OwnerThe MetropolitanMuseumof Art, Iooo FifthAvenue,New York,N.Y. IOO28-OI98 Knownbondholders, and othersecurityholdersowningor holdingonepercent mortgages, and othersecurities: None or moreof thetotalamountof bonds,mortgages, Averagenumberof copies duringprecedingIx months (Oct. 9I-Sept. 92)

Singleissuenearest to filingdate (Aug.92)

I07,257

IO5,660

A. Totalcopiesprinted(net pressrun) B. Paidand/orrequestedcirculation I. Salesthroughdealers,carriers, streetvendors,and countersales

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D. Freedistributionby mail, carrier or othermeans,samples,complimentary, and otherfreecopies E. Totaldistribution(sum of C and D)

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o15,660

2.

Mail subscription(paidand/orrequested)

F.Copies not distributed I Officeuse, left over,unaccounted,spoilage 2 Returnsfromnews agents G. Total(sumof E, FI and F2)

623

o

None

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o15,660

BACK COVER:

Detail of The CompanionsofRinaldo (fig. I5)

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