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| Nicolas Poussin Rinaldo and Armida ca. 1628-30 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
HISTORY: Possibly anonymous sale, Christie, London, 1788; Noël Desenfans by 1804 bequeathed at his death in 1807 to Sir Francis Bourgeois, and by him to Alleyn's College, Dulwich [whose art collection passed to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1817].
"One further group of paintings executed by Poussin in the early and middle 1630's is of importance in connection with his attitude toward his subject matter. These deal with stories taken from Tasso, a poet whose works greatly attracted painters in the seventeenth century. At first sight, Poussin's choice of themes from the Gerusalemme liberata may seem curious, for he confines himself to the love stories of Rinaldo and Armida and of Tancred and Erminia and neglects – except in one early drawing – the battles and the heroic episodes of the epic. Two of the paintings in question [directly above and below] represent the moment when Armida is about to kill the sleeping Rinaldo but is suddenly overcome by his beauty. The Berlin picture illustrates the next episode in the story, when the enchantress orders her attendants to carry the sleeping warrior to her chariot drawn by dragons, in which she transports him to her enchanted castle. The Rinaldo cycle is completed by a painting showing his companions, Carlo and Ubaldo, who were sent by Goffredo to save him from the snares of Armida. Finally, two paintings show Erminia finding the wounded Tancred and cutting off her hair to fasten the bandages round his wounds."
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| Nicolas Poussin Rinaldo and Armida ca. 1635 oil on canvas Pushkin Museum, Moscow |
HISTORY: Acquired by the Empress Catherine II of Russia. Sent to Moscow [from the Hermitage] in 1930.
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| Nicolas Poussin Armida carrying off Rinaldo ca. 1637 oil on canvas Gemäldegalerie, Berlin |
HISTORY: Painted for Jacques Stella ca. 1637; about 1685 belonged to Joachim de Seiglière de Boisfranc. Probably Pasquier sale, Remy, Paris, 1755 (as engraved by Chasteau). The Berlin picture was recorded in the Neues Palais, Potsdam, in 1773.
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| Nicolas Poussin The Companions of Rinaldo ca. 1633-35 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
HISTORY: Cassiano dal Pozzo. The account of Pozzo's collection among the papers of Robert de Cotte mentions a painting "representant les deux chevaliers qui vont delivrer Renaud des enchantements d'Armide." The boat is taken from a Roman relief in Venice, engraved by the Master of the Die.
The Metropolitan Museum offers a more detailed provenance: "Cassiano dal Pozzo, Rome (died 1657); his brother, Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo, Rome (died 1689); his son, Gabriele dal Pozzo, Rome (died 1695); his son Cosimo Antonio dal Pozzo, Rome (until 1723; sold to Bufalo); Marchese Ottavio Rinaldo dal Bufalo, Rome; Graf Aloys Thomas Raimond von Harrach, Vienna (probably purchased in late 1731 or 1732 [Harrach was Viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples, 1728-32]); Grafen von Harrach, Vienna (by 1738; inventories 1745 and 1749, catalogued in 1856 and 1897 as by Le Sueur, catalogued in 1926 as by Poussin); Countess Stephanie Harrach, Vienna (until 1967; sold to Wildenstein); Wildenstein, New York, 1967-68; sold to Wrightsman); Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, New York (1968-77); given by the Wrightsmans to the Metropolitan Museum in 1977."
HISTORY: Bought by the Empress Catherine II of Russia from the painter Abel (no doubt the miniaturist Ernst August Abel) in Paris in 1766.
HISTORY: Bought by Sir James Thornhill in Paris in 1711; Sir James Thornhill sale, Cock, London, 1734, bought W. Lock (engraved while in his possession by J. Van der Gucht); sold by his son to Earl Poullett, from whose descendant it was bought in 1938 by the Barber Institute through Frank Sabin.
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| Nicolas Poussin Tancred and Erminia ca. 1631-33 oil on canvas Hermitage, Saint Petersburg |
HISTORY: Bought by the Empress Catherine II of Russia from the painter Abel (no doubt the miniaturist Ernst August Abel) in Paris in 1766.
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| Nicolas Poussin Tancred and Erminia ca. 1637-38 oil on canvas Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham |
HISTORY: Bought by Sir James Thornhill in Paris in 1711; Sir James Thornhill sale, Cock, London, 1734, bought W. Lock (engraved while in his possession by J. Van der Gucht); sold by his son to Earl Poullett, from whose descendant it was bought in 1938 by the Barber Institute through Frank Sabin.
"The explanation of Poussin's somewhat unexpected choice of themes from the Gerusalemme is to be found in the Allegoria prefixed by Tasso to the poem, in which he tells the reader that it is to be read not simply as a series of stories but as a carefully planned allegory symbolizing the order of things. This Allegoria is rarely reprinted in modern editions of the poem, but it appeared in the first edition of 1581 and in most of the reprints published during the following decades. . . . Many of the writers who favor allegory quote the Gerusalemme as an example of its use. It is likely that Poussin was aware of their ideas, and he may well have adapted them to his own art of painting. It is certain that he read Tasso's own writings on epic poetry, for several of his notes on painting published by Bellori are copied from them, with the word "painting" substituted for "poetry." The hypothesis that he accepted the poet's interpretation of the Gerusalemme as set forth in the Allegoria would explain the otherwise puzzling fact that he selected from the Gerusalemme precisely the love themes. Seen as allegories of the struggle between Reason and Concupiscence, these paintings take their place naturally alongside the Arcadian Shepherds and the stories of Midas and prepare the way for the more explicitly philosophical paintings of the 1640's."
HISTORY: Cassiano dal Pozzo. The picture and its pair [directly below] can be traced to the Pozzo collection by the labels and seals on the back, which prove that in 1739 they were given by Cosimo Antonio dal Pozo to his daughter, Maria Laura, who had married Pietro Paolo Boccapaduli; by descent to the Boccapaduli family; Lord Grenville, Dropmore House, Berkshire; by descent to the Fortescue family; sold at Dropmore in 1939; bought Tomàs Harris; bought from him by Sir George Leon; bequeathed to his widow, later Mrs Parrington; presumably sold by her to R.F. Heathcoat Amory; sold by his executors, Sotheby, London, 1962; purchased by the National Gallery in 1970.
HISTORY: The Landscape with Travelers resting was, remarkably, never separated from its pair, the Landscape with a Boy drinking from a Stream. They were painted together for Cassiano dal Pozzo, and recognized by Blunt as "Poussin's first pure landscapes." Subsequently, they followed the same winding path over the course of three hundred years through families in Italy, then Britain, before coming to rest together at the National Gallery late in the twentieth century.
HISTORY: Painted in 1648; in 1685 belonged to the Chevalier de Lorraine. The Dulwich picture belonged to Noël Desenfans, who at his death in 1807 bequeathed it to Sir Frances Bourgeois; bequeathed by him in 1811 to Alleyn's College, Dulwich [whose art collection passed to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1817].
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Boy drinking from a Stream ca. 1643-44 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
HISTORY: Cassiano dal Pozzo. The picture and its pair [directly below] can be traced to the Pozzo collection by the labels and seals on the back, which prove that in 1739 they were given by Cosimo Antonio dal Pozo to his daughter, Maria Laura, who had married Pietro Paolo Boccapaduli; by descent to the Boccapaduli family; Lord Grenville, Dropmore House, Berkshire; by descent to the Fortescue family; sold at Dropmore in 1939; bought Tomàs Harris; bought from him by Sir George Leon; bequeathed to his widow, later Mrs Parrington; presumably sold by her to R.F. Heathcoat Amory; sold by his executors, Sotheby, London, 1962; purchased by the National Gallery in 1970.
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Travelers resting ca. 1643-44 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
HISTORY: The Landscape with Travelers resting was, remarkably, never separated from its pair, the Landscape with a Boy drinking from a Stream. They were painted together for Cassiano dal Pozzo, and recognized by Blunt as "Poussin's first pure landscapes." Subsequently, they followed the same winding path over the course of three hundred years through families in Italy, then Britain, before coming to rest together at the National Gallery late in the twentieth century.
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Roman Road 1648 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
HISTORY: Painted in 1648; in 1685 belonged to the Chevalier de Lorraine. The Dulwich picture belonged to Noël Desenfans, who at his death in 1807 bequeathed it to Sir Frances Bourgeois; bequeathed by him in 1811 to Alleyn's College, Dulwich [whose art collection passed to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1817].
"Two other compositions [directly above and directly below] also show travelers resting, washing their feet, or drinking from a spring. One of this pair shows a Roman road running straight into the composition, with a milestone beside it in the middle distance and beyond it, a village by the sea. The other shows a rougher tract of country across which runs an irregular path. It has been plausibly suggested that these two compositions are designed to mark the contrast between the land as organized and cultivated by the Romans and its primitive state before their arrival, and the straight road is an obvious symbol of Roman civilization. Both landscapes probably also allude to the virtues of country life as set forth by Varro, Cato, and the other ancient writers on agriculture. In the center of the National Gallery painting [below] we see a bearded man lying at the foot of a tree in meditation, and above him, hung on the tree, is the image of a tutelary deity and various other objects, including a sword and scabbard. These are presumably the arms of the man lying below the tree, who, we may suppose, dedicated them to the deity represented by the image when he gave up his life as a soldier and retired to a life of philosophical retirement in the country."
HISTORY: In Sir George Beaumont's collection by 1787 (when engraved by Pether); given by him to the Gallery in 1826. The Landscape with a Man washing his Feet at a Fountain was almost certainly painted as a pair to the Landscape with a Roman Road.
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Man Washing his Feet at a Fountain ca. 1648 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
HISTORY: In Sir George Beaumont's collection by 1787 (when engraved by Pether); given by him to the Gallery in 1826. The Landscape with a Man washing his Feet at a Fountain was almost certainly painted as a pair to the Landscape with a Roman Road.
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Woman Washing her Feet 1650 oil on canvas National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
HISTORY: Painted in 1650, perhaps for [Michel] Passart, to whom it belonged. The Ottawa picture was probably in the James Fenton sale, Christie, London, 1880. Earl Howe by 1885 (lent by him to the Royal Academy winter exhibition in that year); Earl Howe sale, Trollope, London, 1920. With Duits, London, 1929; with Durlacher, London, 1930; bought by H.S. Southam, Ottawa; presented to the National Gallery of Canada in 1944.
"The most puzzling of this group of landscapes is the Woman Washing Her Feet, painted in 1650, probably for Passart. In type it is like those painted for [Cassiano dal] Pozzo, but it is bigger and more considered, so that at first it is tempting to search for a classical theme that would fit the composition. But none has been so far suggested, and it is probably wiser to follow the lead given by [André] Félibien, who simply calls it un paysage où l'on voit une femme qui se lave les pieds. Nevertheless, the old woman with a basket of figs beside her who sits watching the girl, and the youth peering at her over the bushes suggest that Poussin meant to do more than paint a girl stopping to wash her feet. If so, however, the theme is probably something like that of the man killed by a snake [below], because the figures are not in classical dress and, though the youth is satyrlike, he has neither horns nor pointed ears and is probably no more than an inquisitive peasant from the Campagna. Unfortunately, in this case we have no clue from external evidence, and the landscape itself provides nothing on which to build even a tentative hypothesis."
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Man pursued by a Snake ca. 1643-44 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts, Montréal |
HISTORY: Probably Cassiano dal Pozzo. Possibly Marquis of Bute sale, Christie, London, 1822. The present picture was bought by Duncan Grant in Paris, soon after 1920; bought from him by Anthony Blunt in 1964. Sold after Blunt's death in 1983, and purchased by the Museum in Montreal. Blunt acknowledges, without agreeing, that "this generally has been taken to be a copy [not by Poussin] of the National Gallery Landscape with a Man killed by a Snake" [directly below].
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Man killed by a Snake ca. 1648 oil on canvas National Gallery, London |
HISTORY: Painted for [Jean] Pointel, probably in 1648. After his death, which probably took place between 1657 and 1662, bought by Duplessis-Rambouillet; in 1685 belonged to Denis Moreau. Passed by descent to the Nyert family. Bought from them early in, or shortly before, 1773 by Robert Strange. Strange sale, Christie, London, 1773, bought by Sir Warkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet; bought [by the National Gallery] in 1947 from the 8th Baronet, through Horace Buttery.
"In the Man Killed by a Snake . . . Poussin has taken as his theme a recent incident, which, even if he did not actually witness it, happened in a tract of country that he knew and among people whose misery he had seen. But he gives a timeless quality to this contemporary incident by his manner of treating it. He makes no attempt to provide any local color. . . . Both Félibien and Fénelon record that his main intention in the painting was to depict the effects of fear as it is expressed in different degrees. The man in the foreground who actually sees the dead body rushes away with a movement of terror; the women with her bundle sees his terror without seeing the cause of it and so reflects it, but in a less intense degree; and the men sitting on the bank of the lake notice nothing at all."
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Two Nymphs and a Snake 1659 oil on canvas Musée Condé, Chantilly |
HISTORY: Probably painted for Charles Lebrun in 1659. Radziwill collection; Reiset collection; bought from him by the Duc d'Aumale [and bequeathed by him to the Museum in Chantilly].
"The feeling of the frightening power of nature is strongly expressed in the mysterious Landscape with Two Nymphs. Here nature is seen as forceful rather than productive, for although the trees are large and heavy, the general effect is bleak. The theme of the picture is puzzling. In the foreground beside a spring sit two nymphs watching a huge snake devouring a bird. The idea of a snake as the guardian of a spring is common in antiquity, and is linked up with the general connection of snakes with the underworld from which the spring arises. It probably has this connotation in Poussin's landscape, but it may have a more precise meaning."
HISTORY: Recorded in the collection of King Philip V at La Granja in 1746.
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with Buildings ca. 1648-50 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
HISTORY: Recorded in the collection of King Philip V at La Granja in 1746.
Blunt suggested that the Prado Landscape with Buildings [above] was perhaps the missing painting called Landscape with a Calm [below] which he catalogued as "lost."
HISTORY: This painting was apparently unknown to Blunt (or known and disregarded). In any case, it is listed in his catalogue as "lost." After purchasing the picture, the Getty Museum published a provenance, from which the following is extracted – painted for Jean Pointel (died 1660); by 1685 owned by Sieur Louis Bay Marchand of Lyon; by 1743 owned by Peter Delmé of London; by 1854 owned by James Morrison of Basildon Park, Berkshire; descended from the Morrison family to the Dent-Brocklehurst family of Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe; offered at Sotheby's in 1974 as by Gaspard Dughet, and withdrawn; sold by the Dent-Brocklehurst family to the Getty Museum in 1997, as by Poussin.
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Calm 1651 oil on canvas Getty Museum, Los Angeles |
HISTORY: This painting was apparently unknown to Blunt (or known and disregarded). In any case, it is listed in his catalogue as "lost." After purchasing the picture, the Getty Museum published a provenance, from which the following is extracted – painted for Jean Pointel (died 1660); by 1685 owned by Sieur Louis Bay Marchand of Lyon; by 1743 owned by Peter Delmé of London; by 1854 owned by James Morrison of Basildon Park, Berkshire; descended from the Morrison family to the Dent-Brocklehurst family of Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe; offered at Sotheby's in 1974 as by Gaspard Dughet, and withdrawn; sold by the Dent-Brocklehurst family to the Getty Museum in 1997, as by Poussin.
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| Nicolas Poussin Landscape with a Storm 1651 oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen |
HISTORY: Painted for [Jean] Pointel in 1651. The Blunt catalogue says "original lost" – but the Rouen painting has since been accepted by Jacques Thuillier and by curators at the Getty. These and other scholars regard both Landscape with a Storm and Landscape with a Calm as originals by Poussin, painted as a pair.
– Anthony Blunt, Nicolas Poussin, (Phaidon Press, 1958) and The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: Critical Catalogue (Phaidon Press, 1966)