You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Publication coincides with the 400th anniversary of the artist's birth and a forthcoming exhibition
By investigating the important cultural figures who were close to the painter Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), Elizabeth Cropper and Charles Dempsey allow the reader to enter not only the Rome where he lived but also the Rome of antiquity, which he admired and tried to reconstruct. The authors argue that Poussin's works were structured by his friendships, as well as by his study of ancient history and early Christian archaeology, his exploration of the poetry and mystery of ancient places, and his conception of his paintings as gifts rather than commercial objects. By looking into this rich background, they also show how Poussin introduced into his theory and practice of painting a new concept o...
Employing the methodologies of the new art history as well as some tools provided by poststructuralism, historiography, and analytic philosophy, Poussin's Paintings offers a novel approach to the art of Poussin. David Carrier begins with a comprehensive analysis of Poussin's self-portraits, which provides the starting point for a critical discussion of the traditional strategies of Poussin scholarship and for an evaluation of the status of this artist. Carrier shows that Poussin can be properly understood only by seeing how his visual and political culture differs from ours. Carrier examines the traditional approaches of Poussin scholars, noting the limitations of their views and showing how...
Nicolas Poussin(1594 - 1665) was undoubtedly a highly significant master of the historical genre. He shaped its aesthetics which, regrettably, subsequently became regarded as a set of hard-and-fast rules (a trap which the Russian followers of the founder of classicism also fell into). We know that Poussin attributed prime significance to the actual choice of matter for depiction, giving preference to subjects which provided food for profound thought. Creatively reworking the aesthetic legacy of the Ancients, he introduced into the realm of painting the concept of the “modus” (mood of depiction), which established the functional unity of three components: the idea, the structure of the depiction, and its perception by the viewer. Composition assumed a predominant significance in his artistic system. In a letter of 1665, Nicolas Poussin put forward three main theses: firstly, painting is simply imitation; secondly, it aims to bring delight; Thirdly, the artist is endowed with a natural talent that no one can give him or deprive him of.
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 m...
The works have been selected by Pierre Rosenberg, Director of the Louvre, who contributes a distinguished essay to this catalogue, and by Neil MacGregor, Director of the National Gallery in London.
Nicolas Poussin, perhaps the most famous French painter of the seventeenth century, lived and worked for many years in Rome. Yet he remained deeply engaged with cultural and political transformations occurring in France, argues Todd R Olson in this original exploration of Poussin's paintings, their production, and their reception. Poussin's references to ancient literature and sculpture addressed a political elite -- the Robe nobility -- whose humanist education in classical antiquity equipped them to relate Greek and Roman history to contemporary events and to deploy ancient precedents in legalistic and political arguments. When the French civil war known as the Fronde erupted in the middle...
None