Nicolas Poussin
The father of French classicism.
Poussin lived in Rome and painted ancient myths and biblical scenes with logic and order. He became a model for the French Academy.
Nicolas Poussin was born in 1594 near Les Andelys in Normandy. As a young man he is said to have been inspired when a travelling painter worked in his home town. Around 1612 he went to Paris, where he tried, in difficult circumstances, to obtain training and commissions. Among other things he studied engravings after Raphael and ancient sculptures in the royal collections.
In 1624 he arrived in Rome, where he stayed for almost the rest of his life. He was supported by the learned collector Cassiano dal Pozzo, who gave him access to his studies of antiquity. In 1630 he married Anne-Marie Dughet, the daughter of a French cook in Rome. After a large altarpiece for St Peter's he turned away from public commissions and instead painted smaller pictures for connoisseurs and collectors. In 1640 he was summoned to Paris by Louis XIII and Richelieu, but he did not enjoy the intrigues of the court and returned to Rome two years later.
Poussin painted ancient myths, biblical stories and historical events with logic and clarity. Every gesture and glance has a meaning. He is said to have arranged small wax figures on a stage to test the composition and the light. In The Arcadian Shepherds, in the Louvre, a group of shepherds read the inscription “Et in Arcadia ego” on a tomb, a reminder that death exists even in paradise. He also painted two series of the Seven Sacraments and, late in life, The Four Seasons, also in the Louvre. His late landscapes are grand and solemn.
He died in Rome in 1665. He was a thinker who wrote about the rules of painting in letters to his friends.
Poussin became the model for the French Academy of art. At the end of the 17th century the Academy split into two camps: the Poussinistes, who held that drawing and thought were most important, and the Rubénistes, who put colour first. His classicism has since inspired artists from Jacques-Louis David to Paul Cézanne.