Art e Dossier

In 1625, after the death of his first Italian patron and protector, the poet Marino, and the departure of Cardinal Barberini, the young Poussin had to contend with a period of severe crises that forced him to sell a series of paintings that included three Biblical battles for a very modest sum. The theme of this painting – that is quite rare – is based on Exodus 17: 8-13; it portrays Joshua fighting against Amalek while Moses prays on the hill. When Moses would lower his arms the enemy would prevail and for this reason Aaron and Hur are shown supporting the patriarch’s arms until sunset and victory. The companion piece to this painting is The Victory of Joshua over the Amorites. Both reflect the artist’s careful studies of classic sculpture and the works of Raphael and his school, specifically the Battle in the Vatican.

This is one of Poussin’s most famous paintings that was commissioned by Cardinal Francesco Barberini in 1626 to be completed in 1628. It was this painting that thrust the artist into the limelight of Roman artistic circles and it soon became one of the canonical models for the new demands of post-Carracci classicism. Inspired by The Annals of Tacitus, the painting combines the idea of a strong, ethical heroic image and archeological research. The commander and son of Nero Claudius Drusus, was nicknamed Germanicus because of his victories on German soil; he was sent to Syria by his adoptive father, Tiberius who –out of jealousy - had him poisoned by the governor Piso. Like a bas-relief, Poussin depicted the moment in which Germanicus, on his deathbed, asked his men to avenge his fate.

The essence of the new concept of the painting-theater relationship that we see in The Plague at Ashdod returns in The Triumph of David, a painting permeated with the classicist scenic impulse derived from the lessons of Palladio and Serlio. Here too we can see some pentimenti, especially in the architecture. In spite of its high quality, the painting is not mentioned in early sources and we only know of its fate from the end of the XVIII century on. Certain details, such as the realism of some faces raised some doubts about Poussin’s hand in favor of Mellin who imitated his style around 1631-1635. The majority of the critics, however, agree that it was done by the master from Les Andelys.

The story of King Midas, based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses seems to have greatly interested Poussin during the early part of his career; perhaps he was fascinated by men favored by destiny. Bacchus had given Midas the “golden touch” so that anything he touched turned to gold. When he was close to dying of hunger and thirst, he begged the god to release him from that “gift” that had quickly become a curse, so Bacchus ordered him to wash in the River Pactolus which, since that time has been a source of gold. The painting, which may have belonged to the collection of Camillo Masini was purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1871.

This painting captures the moment when Diana joins Endymion as Apollo rises in the sky at dawn so that she could spend the day with him sheltered from the sunlight by a curtain. The subject is rather unusual, most paintings favored the scene in which the chaste goddess embraces the young, sleeping shepherd. In the figures we can see extensive retouching that leads us to believe that the artist did some subsequent over painting. The inaccuracies and the still as yet incomplete mastery of the luminous structure would date the painting quite early in his career, around 1627 and hence the later modifications. The painting surfaced in England at the beginning of the XX century; it had probably belonged to the collection of Cardinal Fesch, and prior to that to Mazzarin. It has been in Detroit since 1936.

This painting was a milestone in the early part of Poussin’s career. The Martyrdom of St. Erasmus was ordered for St. Peter’s Basilica in February 1628 and was paid between June and October of the following year. For a long time it was the artist’s only painting in a public building, and then it was replaced by a mosaic. The subject had been selected by the client and Poussin took over the commission from Pietro da Cortona. There are still many of Pietro’s early studies on the subject, but they are smaller. The bloody martyrdom of the saint takes place in an atmosphere filled with sunlight.

This painting portrays King Midas who, according to Ovid’s Metamorphoses, had been given the “golden touch” by Bacchus, so that anything he touched turned to gold. When he was close to dying of hunger and thirst, he begged the god to release him from that “gift” that had quickly become a curse, and here we see him thanking Bacchus for once again having granted his wish. There are many old copies of this painting that was done around 1629-30. The theme of the Bacchanals, or paintings related to the myth of Bacchus appeared quite soon in Poussin’s career since he had been studying canvases of similar subjects by Titian (in the Aldobrandini collection) since 1598 and they had a great influence on the French artist even insofar as chromatics were concerned.

Poussin began working on this painting in 1630 and it was purchased by the nobleman, Fabrizio Valguarnera in 1631 before it was completed, so Poussin worked on it a little longer. In 1665 Cardinal Richelieu bought it in Rome, and then in 1651 it became part of the collection of Louis XIV. The subject is faithfully taken from Samuel V: 1-16 and it was probably inspired by the terrible plague that struck Milan in 1630. It reveals the progress Poussin had made in scenic structure: the Titianesque landscapes of his earlier period are replaced by a well-articulated pictorial-architectural space.

This painting was one of the cycle of Triumphs that Richelieu commissioned for his chateau at Poitou, and is mentioned by Bellori, Félibien and other old sources. The Triumph of Neptune the only sea subject, along with three “earthly bacchanals,” alluded to Richelieu’s role in upgrading the French navy that was celebrated in the chateau. In the XVIII century the painting entered the Crozat collection and then that of Catherine II of Russia. The Soviet government put it on sale in 1932 and it was purchased by the Philadelphia Art Museum. Poussin painted this cycle between 1634 and 1637 and, in spite of the disagreement as to the number of works and doubts as to authorship of the known paintings that were replicated several times, it is emblematic of the changes that came about in Poussin’s mature years.

The subject is the famous episode in Roman history recounted by Livy, Virgil and Plutarch, in which Romulus organized a festival and invited the inhabitants of neighboring settlements including the Sabines. At a given signal the young Romans broke into the crowd and carried off the unmarried maidens to assure the future growth of their own population. In 1685 Félibien mentioned this painting as part of the Duchess of Aiguillon’s collection. Poussin painted a second version which is in the Louvre and that Bellori cites as having been done for Cardinal Omodi.

The inspiration for this painting came from the History of the Jewish War by Flavius Josephus and the artist dealt with it for the first time in 1626 in a painting for Cardinal Francesco Barberini. Both paintings depict the siege and burning of the Temple by the Emperor Titus. Barberini gave the first painting to Richelieu who, in turn, gave it to the Duchess of Aiguillon. The second version, done ten years later, was also commissioned by Barberini – as we learn from Bellori – and was given to Prince Eggenberg, the emperor’s envoy to Pope Urban VIII. On the edge of the second shield on the right is the signature “NI.PUS FEC”

This painting only became known around 1930 and does not seem to be mentioned by any early sources. Because of its size and stylistic similarities it was probably a companion piece to the Landscape with St. Matthew (Berlin, Staatliche Museen). The two paintings may have been part of a series of four apostles that Cardinal Francesco Barberini ordered when Poussin returned to Paris but was never completed due to the death of Pope Urban VIII and the Barberini family’s subsequent fall from grace.