Nicolas Poussin Giclée Fine Art Prints 5 of 6

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) can be defined as the most typical representative of French classicism of the 17th century. His work is sometimes complex, invariably bearing the imprint of erudition and enlightenment. The Louvre has thirty-eight paintings (or a quarter of his works known today) that allow one to trace the various stages of his career. Poussin was from Normandy, worked in Paris, and only in 1624 finally realized his cherished dream by settling in Rome. His entire career as a painter unfolded there, with only a two-year interruption (1640-1642), when Louis XIII summoned him to himself in Paris.

In Italy, as soon as he arrived, he was assisted and patronized by educated and learned connoisseurs, who became his best clients. Among them was the collector Cassiano dal Pozzo, for whom he created the "Seven Sacraments" series. Their interest in antiquity led him to devote himself to cavallet painting. The artist draws his subjects from ancient history and mythology, selects noble or dramatic subjects and builds perfectly balanced, increasingly static compositions. These are the very works that brought him European fame. Simple allegories, such as "The Inspiration of the Poet" (1630), established his reputation as a 'philosopher painter'; others, such as "The Arcadian Shepherds" (1638-1640), express the fragility of human happiness. Between 1644 and 1648 Poussin painted for the Parisian collector Chantelou a new series, "The Seven Sacraments", whose monumental mise-en-scenes and dignified figures reveal his artistic and intellectual ideal. During the last 20 years of his life, he devoted particular attention to landscape. In "Landscape with Diogenes", sumptuous nature bestows bliss on man. The Seasons cycle is a synthesis between the beauty of nature and biblical narrative, with each of the seasons symbolizing a stage in man's destiny.