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| Philippe de Champaigne Échevins of the City of Paris 1648 |
For years I had no special interest in any 17th century French painters other than the exceptional Nicolas Poussin. Poussin stands out from his peers and suits present-day audiences for several reasons that have nothing much to do with the quality of his art, such as a lukewarm attitude to Christianity and a corresponding preference for the antique pagans.
The most recent threat to my own happy insularity came from Todd Olson's book Poussin and France: Painting, Humanism, and the Politics of Style. This critic attributed great importance to educated civic worthies like those in Philippe de Champaigne's group portrait above. These were the men who bought Poussin's pictures, and who inevitably also influenced his artistic choices. The values of their class placed the highest stress on order and dignity. And this is why the clear light and sober countenances in Philippe de Champaigne's Last Supper (below) seem to disavow the spiritual in favor of the secular.
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| Philippe de Champaigne Last Supper 1652 |
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| Philippe de Champaigne Miracles of the Penitent Saint Mary 1656 |
Poussin's authority extended in every direction and none of his contemporaries was immune to it. The composition of Philippe's Miracles of the Penitent Saint Mary (immediately above) could not exist without templates by Poussin (below).
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| Nicolas Poussin Burial of Phocion 1648 |
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| Nicolas Poussin Ideal Landscape 1648 |
The other point of contrast between Poussin and Philippe de Champaigne is the evident intensity of emotion in many of Philippe's devotional pictures (below). Religious passions dominated French public life all through the 17th century. By living abroad and identifying with the worldlier culture of Rome, Poussin was able to cultivate an even-tempered classicism at a subdued emotional temperature.
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| Philippe de Champaigne Dead Christ 1654 |
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| Philippe de Champaigne Saints Gervase and Protase appearing to Saint Ambrose 1658 |
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| Philippe de Champaigne Portrait of a Man 1650 |