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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a man killed by a snake ca. 1648 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
Condition : the Ageing of Art is the title of a book by Paul Taylor published in London last year. The National Gallery in London supplied the reproduction of the painting above by Nicolas Poussin. It appears in Taylor's introduction, facing a reproduction of Etienne Baudet's engraved copy of the same picture, made fifty years after Poussin painted the original. Paul Taylor quotes from the National Gallery's catalogue description: "The painting is worn throughout, but particularly in the area of the woman's left arm, part of which is illegible, the tree trunk at lower left and in the foreground. Much of the red-brown ground is showing through. The foreground rocks have lost definition. The ultramarine in one of the middleground figures has discoloured, and some of the foliage paint is similarly affected."
Paul Taylor continues in his own voice: "Sombre as it sounds, this is something of an understatement. The painting has been heavily 'lined' and the weave of the canvas has pushed up to the surface in certain areas. But worse than that is the overall darkening of tone, which has left parts of the painting almost invisible in shadow. Is this what Poussin intended? . . . A print of the painting, made in 1701 [below] shows that parts of the picture which to us are almost illegibly dark seem to have been clearly visible then."
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a man killed by a snake 1701 etching, engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |
Poussin devoted much of the latter part of his career to a philosophically articulate landscape genre that he largely invented for himself. One fundamental and immediate consequence of this creative choice was that he used a great deal of green paint. Various formulations of green pigment existed in the 17th century, but many shared a tendency to darken with time and "sink" into brownish-black shadows. Etienne Baudet made his series of etched and engraved copies when Poussin's compositions were still fresh and young. Paul Taylor produces the shock he intends by confronting the much-obscured original with a surviving approximation of what it used to look like. Additional pairs appear below, with variable stages of sickness or health in evidence.
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| Nicola Poussin Landscape with woman gathering the ashes of Phocion 1648 oil on canvas Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool |
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with woman gathering the ashes of Phocion 1701 etching, engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with the funeral of Phocion 1648 oil on canvas National Museum of Wales, Cardiff |
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with the funeral of Phocion 1701 etching, engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a man washing his feet at a fountain ca. 1648-50 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a man washing his feet at a fountain 1701 etching, engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Roman Road 1648 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Roman Road 1701 etching, engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice 1648 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice 1701 etching engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Diogenes ca. 1647 oil on canvas Louvre, Paris |
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Diogenes 1701 etching, engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Polyphemus 1649 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
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| Etienne Baudet after Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Polyphemus 1701 etching, engraving Rijskmuseum, Amsterdam |