Gaspard Dughet Landscape with Hurricane ca. 1667 Prado |
Gaspard Dughet Landscape with Storm ca. 1672-75 Prado |
Gaspard Dughet (1625-1675) began his career in the Roman studio of Nicolas Poussin, who had married Dughet's sister. In later life Dughet sometimes called himself Gaspard Poussin. The two late works above demonstrate Dughet's "increasingly marked attachment for emotive landscapes in a Salvator Rosa vein" – in the translated words of Andre Chastel from his useful and opinionated book, French Art – the ancien regime 1620-1775, published in 1996 by Flammarion ("this book is dedicated to the thousands of artisans and artists who have built and loved this country, and to the hundreds of scholars who have saved them from being forgotten").
Gaspard Dughet Landscape with Wanderers ca. 1645 Prado |
Gaspard Dughet Landscape with Penitent Magdalene ca. 1660 Prado |
Gaspard Dughet Landscape with Shepherd ca. 1644-45 Prado |
There are many more Dughets at the Prado than the five above. He was a prolific painter, and the Spanish court required prodigious numbers of paintings. Poussin's prestige was of a different order than that of his brother-in-law. The four Poussins below were acquired by Philip IV (1605-1665) – who felt a strong personal commitment to the art he bought. The Spanish king held Poussin in particular reverence among living painters. Evidence is plentiful that most of Poussin's patrons felt the same way. He was supported by a relatively small group of connoisseurs, most of them living in France. When they commissioned paintings they often suggested the subjects, and their choices were usually of high philosophical or religious import.
Nicolas Poussin Ideal Landscape 1648-50 Prado |
Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Anchorite 1637-38 Prado |
Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Sarcophagus & Two Figures ca. 1642-47 Prado |
Nicolas Poussin Bacchanal : the meeting of Bacchus & Ariadne on Naxos 1625-26 Prado |
The Prado Bacchanal is an early picture, painted shortly after Poussin's pilgrimage from France – an exceptionally beautiful painting, surviving in exceptionally beautiful condition. This Bacchanal was one of Poussin's most explicit tributes to Titian, who had been such a great favorite with the Spanish court in the previous century.