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| Nicolas Poussin The Death of the Virgin 1623 watercolor modello for painting British Museum |
HISTORY: Probably acquired by Thomas Worsley (1710-1778), Surveyor-General of the Board of Works to George III; [passed by inheritance to Sir William Marcus John Worsley, 5th Baronet (1925-2012); after his death accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of tax; assigned to the British Museum in 2015.]
"A modello for Poussin's Death of the Virgin (Saint-Pancrace, Sterrebeek, Belgium), long acknowledged as the artist's earliest known painting. The picture was commissioned from Poussin in 1623, shortly before his departure for Rome, by Jean-François de Gondi (1584-1654), the first Archbishop of Paris. . . . This watercolor was probably executed as a modello, submitted for the final approval of the patron before work began on the painting itself. It is an important record of Poussin's early style, given the damaged state of the finished picture [directly below] in which many of the subtleties have been lost. The two works differ in only a handful of details, most notably in the angles of the heads and hands of the figures, showing Poussin's continuing refinement of the figures' attitudes." – (from curator's notes at the British Museum)
HISTORY: Probably painted for Cassiano dal Pozzo in collaboration with Daniel Seghers, who executed the wreath of flowers. The painting can be dated precisely to the years 1625-27, the only period when Seghers was in Rome.
HISTORY: Belonged to the 9th Earl of Exeter in 1794; said to have come from the Palazzo Soderini, Rome. Passed by descent to the 6th Marquis of Exeter, who sold it in 1962 to Messrs. Wildenstein. Bought from them by the National Gallery in 1963. [Jacques Thuillier among other critics rejects this painting as an original Poussin].
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| Nicolas Poussin The Death of the Virgin 1623 oil on canvas Église Saint Pancrace, Sterrebeek, Belgium |
HISTORY: Painted for the Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris in 1623. . . . It is first recorded in one of the chapels of the nave in 1684. This was probably the chapel of St. Peter Martyr, since it is recorded there, over the altar, in 1749. In 1763 it was in the chapel of St. Gérald or St. Géraud. Taken to the Grands-Augustins in 1793 [the Dépôt National des Monuments Français, where much religious art was concentrated after confiscation from churches during the Revolution], and to the Louvre in 1797, and sent to Brussels in 1803. The attempts of the French Government to recover the picture in 1815 failed and it remained in Belgium. It may have been destroyed . . . or it may be in a church in or near Brussels. [Blunt died in 1983 with this painting still missing; it was discovered in 2000 in the church of Sterrebeek, near Brussels.]
"The commission by Archbishop Jean-François de Gondi was inspired by the ecclesiastical elevation of the city of Paris, on 19 February 1623, from a mere bishopric (under the authority of the Archbishop of Sens) to an archbishopric in its own right. He had been invested as the city's first Archbishop and his commission [to the young Poussin] speaks of both personal and civic pride. In its broadest sense, the painting celebrated the Virgin, who as Notre-Dame was the patron saint of the new archbishopric. The subject was taken from Jacques de Voragine's "Golden Legend," which related how the apostles were miraculously drawn from their preaching and reunited around the Virgin at the moment of her death. However, The Death of the Virgin was probably originally destined for the Gondi family's own chapel in Notre-Dame, and Poussin's daringly innovative composition placed the figure of a bishop standing among the grieving apostles at the right-hand side of the composition." – (from curator's notes at the British Museum)
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| Nicolas Poussin Massacre of the Innocents ca. 1625-26 oil on canvas Musée du Petit Palais, Paris |
HISTORY: Altieri collection, Rome, by 1686-87; still mentioned as in the Palazzo Altieri by [Mariano] Vasi in 1794, but not listed in later editions [of Vasi's guidebook, Itinerario Istruttivo di Roma]. Possibly Lethières sale, Paillet, Paris, 1829; Collot sale, Laneuville, Paris, 1855 (stated to have been sold from the Palazzo Altieri in 1798), bought by the Dutuit brothers and bequeathed to the city of Paris.
"[Otto] Grautoff argues that the painting was begun by Poussin and finished by another hand. He was, however, probably misled by the state of the picture, which has suffered severely. A considerable part of the executioner who occupies the middle of the composition is painted on a piece of later canvas inserted in the original, and the rest of this figure, together with much of the left-hand executioner, is largely restored, as is also the baby lying at the feet of the middle soldier."
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| Nicolas Poussin Massacre of the Innocents ca. 1628-29 oil on canvas Musée Condé, Chantilly |
HISTORY: Owned by and probably painted for the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani, Rome; bought from his descendants by Lucien Bonaparte; sold by him to the Queen of Etruria; inherited by her son, the Duke of Lucca; exhibited for sale with his collection, London, 1840; sold, Phillips, London, 1841 (as from the Lucien Bonaparte collection); W. Buchanan sale, Christie, London 1846; probably D. Gardener sale, Christie, London 1854; bought in 1854 from Colnaghi's, London, by the Duc d'Aumale, [and bequeathed by him to the Museum in Chantilly].
"The Massacre of the Innocents at Chantilly is altogether exceptional iconographically in that it shows the whole tragedy concentrated in a single group of mother, child, and soldier, an almost Racinien concentration compared with the traditional pattern used by Poussin in his earlier version of the subject, with a series of different groups showing variations on the same theme [the version in the Petit Palais, above]. This method of treating the composition is an example of the principle supported by Poussin in the quarrel which took place at the Academy of St. Luke in the mid-thirties, when the classical party led by Andrea Sacchi maintained that a painting should only contain the minimum number of figures needed to explain the action and should not, as Pietro da Cortona and the Baroque painters maintained, be enriched with episodes introduced for their own sake rather than as a necessary part of the story."
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| Nicolas Poussin Virgin and Child ca. 1625-27 oil on canvas (with flower wreath by Daniel Seghers) Preston Manor, Brighton |
HISTORY: Probably painted for Cassiano dal Pozzo in collaboration with Daniel Seghers, who executed the wreath of flowers. The painting can be dated precisely to the years 1625-27, the only period when Seghers was in Rome.
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| Nicolas Poussin Pietà ca. 1625-27 oil on canvas (with flower wreath by Daniel Seghers) Musée Thomas Henry, Cherbourg |
HISTORY: Probably painted for Cassiano dal Pozzo in collaboration with Daniel Seghers, who executed the wreath of flowers. The painting can be dated precisely to the years 1625-27, the only period when Seghers was in Rome. Léon Dufourny sale, 1819; given to the Museum by the founder, Thomas Henry, in 1835.
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| Nicolas Poussin Assumption of the Virgin ca. 1626-27 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington DC |
HISTORY: Belonged to the 9th Earl of Exeter in 1794; said to have come from the Palazzo Soderini, Rome. Passed by descent to the 6th Marquis of Exeter, who sold it in 1962 to Messrs. Wildenstein. Bought from them by the National Gallery in 1963. [Jacques Thuillier among other critics rejects this painting as an original Poussin].
"The variety of Poussin's approach toward painting in these early years is attested by the Washington Assumption. In technique it is like the Parnassus, with its touches of red; in certain passages of paint it is close to the early stage of the Dulwich David – the clay-colored drapery over the tomb, for instance, is to be found again in one of the figures on the right of the David; the blond coloring is like the Parnassus and parts of the David; the putti have stepped out of the Children's Bacchanals; and the Virgin is like the central mother in the Massacre [earlier version, above]; and yet in feeling, the picture is entirely different. It is apparently the first of Poussin's few excursions into the Baroque, though it is a Baroque of such lightness and prettiness that one is reminded as much of the dix-huitième as of seventeenth-century Rome. No doubt the nature of the commission compelled Poussin to this unusual use of pinks and creamy whites."
HISTORY: Probably owned, and perhaps commissioned, by Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino, Archbishop of Naples (a friend of Cardinal Francesco Barberini), who died in 1666. Passed by inheritance to the della Torre family and mentioned as being in their palace till the end of the eighteenth century. The Chantilly picture was bought by the Duc d'Aumale at the Frédéric Reiset sale, Pillet, Paris, 1879, [and at his death bequeathed to the Museum in Chantilly].
HISTORY: Walsh Porter sale, Christie, London, 1810; W. Scrope by 1832 (exhibited at the British Institution in 1832 as lent by Scrope); Scrope sale, Christie, London, 1853; Matthew Anderson sale, Christie, London, 1861 (as from the Walsh Porter collection); Pearson sale, Paris, 1927; with Cassirer, Berlin; Baron Thyssen, Schloss Rohoncz; sold by his heirs, and bought by the Kunsthalle in 1962.
HISTORY: Bought by the Rev. Heneage Finch in 1825, probably in England; passed by descent to Col. J.C. Wynne-Finch; sold Sotheby, London, 1956, bought Armitage; anonymous sale, Sotheby, London, 1957, bought by [art historian] Lawrence Gowing; [purchased by the Worcester Art Museum in 1977].
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| Nicolas Poussin The Annunciation ca. 1627 oil on canvas Musée Condé, Chantilly |
HISTORY: Probably owned, and perhaps commissioned, by Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino, Archbishop of Naples (a friend of Cardinal Francesco Barberini), who died in 1666. Passed by inheritance to the della Torre family and mentioned as being in their palace till the end of the eighteenth century. The Chantilly picture was bought by the Duc d'Aumale at the Frédéric Reiset sale, Pillet, Paris, 1879, [and at his death bequeathed to the Museum in Chantilly].
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| Nicolas Poussin Holy Family with young St John the Baptist holding the Cross ca. 1627 oil on canvas Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe |
HISTORY: Walsh Porter sale, Christie, London, 1810; W. Scrope by 1832 (exhibited at the British Institution in 1832 as lent by Scrope); Scrope sale, Christie, London, 1853; Matthew Anderson sale, Christie, London, 1861 (as from the Walsh Porter collection); Pearson sale, Paris, 1927; with Cassirer, Berlin; Baron Thyssen, Schloss Rohoncz; sold by his heirs, and bought by the Kunsthalle in 1962.
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| Nicolas Poussin The Flight into Egypt ca. 1627 oil on canvas Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts |
HISTORY: Bought by the Rev. Heneage Finch in 1825, probably in England; passed by descent to Col. J.C. Wynne-Finch; sold Sotheby, London, 1956, bought Armitage; anonymous sale, Sotheby, London, 1957, bought by [art historian] Lawrence Gowing; [purchased by the Worcester Art Museum in 1977].
"The authenticity and the early date of the Flight into Egypt is supported by a drawing, which, though probably not an original, certainly incorporates a design of Poussin's and is in the manner that he used about the years 1626-28. The Virgin in the painting is similar both in type and in dress to the corresponding figure in [other firmly ascribed works of this period]. The painting, though very much damaged, is original in its conception, particularly in the device of showing the figures moving across the canvas toward the right but all looking back toward the left, a stabilizing countermovement."
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| Nicolas Poussin Rest on the Flight into Egypt ca. 1627 oil on canvas Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York |
HISTORY: Possibly from the Palazzo della Torre, Naples, inherited from Cardinal Ascanio Filomarino, Archbishop of Naples. [The Metropolitan Museum provides a conflicting, more recent and detailed provenance: "Giovanni Francesco Salernitano, barone di Frosolone, Naples, by 1648 (probably sold to De Castro); Giacomo de Castro, Naples, ca. 1652 (probably sold to Roomer); Gaspar Roomer, Naples, ca. 1653-74 (bequeathed to Van den Eynden, son of his former business partner); Ferdinand van den Eynden, Palazzo van den Eynden, Naples, died 1674, estate held by his widow until 1688 when their three daughters reached marriageable age; his daughter, Giovanna van den Eynden, Palazzo van den Eynden, later called the Palazzo Colonna di Stigliano, who in 1688 married prince Giuliano Colonna di Galatro; Colonna di Galatro, later Colonna di Stigliano collection, Naples; private collection, Italy; Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co, New York, by 1937; Rudolf J. Heinemann, New York, by 1958; Mrs. Rudolf J. Heinemann, New York; bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum by Mrs. Heinemann, 1997."]
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| Nicolas Poussin St. Cecilia ca. 1627-28 oil on canvas Museo del Prado, Madrid |
HISTORY: Recorded as being saved from the fire in the Alcázar in Madrid in 1734. [Nothing is known of its history before its mention in the inventory of Madrid's Alcázar Palace in 1734, so it may have been acquired by King Philip V, who purchased various works by Poussin on the European art market, particularly in Amsterdam.]
"The attribution of this work to Nicolas Poussin was formerly questioned – some historians attributed it to Charles Mellin – but today no one doubts its authorship, although the master may have made it in collaboration with assistants from his studio. . . . The saint's face appears in other paintings by Poussin from this period or slightly earlier, including . . . the Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine [directly below]. This painting of St. Cecilia is of great quality, firm execution, confident drawing, refined color and compositional elegance." – (from curator's notes at the Museo del Prado)
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| Nicolas Poussin Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine ca. 1627-29 oil on panel Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh |
HISTORY: Cassiano dal Pozzo. In 1781 belonged to Humphrey Morice at Chiswick; bought from him with his whole collection by Lord Ashburnham in 1786; Ashburnham sale, Christie, London, 1850; S. Woodburn sale, Christie, London, 1853; T. Kibble sale, Christie, London, 1886 (as from the Ashburnham collection); Sir Herbert Cook; by descent to Sir Francis Cook; bought from him by Agnew's in 1946, and from them by Sir John Heathcoat Amory, [who bequeathed the painting to the Scottish National Gallery in 1973].
"[The Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine] has a grandeur and a maturity absent from the earlier religious paintings. Basically, the pattern goes back to a type much used in Venice in the sixteenth century, but whereas in the Venetian models the figures are generally either half-length . . . or set in an open space . . . here they are grouped together in a continuous mass, richly modeled in high relief. . . . The action in the group is varied, but the figures are bound together by a series of clearly defined movements. The most obvious is the horizontal line that runs through the arms of the Virgin and Child to the hand of St. Catherine but branches at each end into diagonals, on the right through the sword and the drapery over St. Catherine's feet, on the left through the cloak of the Virgin and the palm held by the putto behind her. This horizontal movement is stabilized by the verticals of the columns and the angels. Poussin is here creating for the first time one of the geometrical networks which were to give such finality to his later classical compositions. He had tried out this particular device in the Flight into Egypt [Worcester Art Museum, above], where the main link is formed by the straight line of the donkey's back, branching into the arms of the angel and the arms and drapery of St. Joseph, but in the St. Catherine it is used with greater effect, because the group is more complex and is modeled in three dimensions, whereas in the Flight the whole movement is in a single plane."
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| Nicolas Poussin Return of the Holy Family from Egypt ca. 1628-29 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
HISTORY: Probably John Puling sale, White, London, 1801; bought by Noël Desenfans. At his death in 1807 it passed with the whole collection to his friend, Sir Francis Bourgeois, who bequeathed it, together with his other pictures, to Dulwich College in 1811 [whose art collection passed to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in 1817].
"The combination of Christian and pagan symbolism is also evident in the Return of the Holy Family from Egypt. It has been shown that the prefiguration of Christ's sufferings, clearly stated in the appearance of the Cross, is also underlined allusively by the parallel between the boatman about to ferry the Holy Family across the river and Charon ferrying souls across the Styx."
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| Nicolas Poussin Lamentation over the Dead Christ ca. 1628-29 oil on canvas Alte Pinakothek, Munich |
HISTORY: In the collection of the Electors of Bavaria since the eighteenth century.
"Poussin designed the scene with archaeological specificity. An expensive tomb like the one on the right had already been constructed for Joseph of Arimathea, who offered it for the burial of Christ (Matthew 17: 57-60). In the arrangement of the figures, Poussin utilizes a traditional triangular composition popular since the Renaissance, but elongated horizontally. The sombre reddish-gray stone of the tomb and hillside sets the tone of the color scheme, while icy blue, bright red, and clear white serve as strong accents." – (from curator's notes at the Alte Pinakothek, Munich)
– Anthony Blunt, Nicolas Poussin, (Phaidon Press, 1958) and The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: Critical Catalogue (Phaidon Press, 1966)