Book Description

Nicolas Poussin was one of the seventeenth century's greatestartists. This superbly illustrated book offers new ways of interpretingthe work and ideas of this brilliant and complex figure. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Fascinating examination of Poussin's Late Landscapes
Being an Art History student, I've discovered you rarely come across clear and understandable "straight to the point" and not "all around it" writing. Art hostorians often tend to drift away with their associations. I am most grateful to the author of "Nicolas Poussin's Landscape Allegories" Sheila McTighe, for writing so clearly on such a difficult subject. That is not to say her book simplifies the subject in any way, or that she uses a shallow approach, but simply that it is easy to follow her line of thought even though she's dealing with some complex issues. The book examines Poussin's late landscape paintings, from around 1640, a point worth emphasizing - in case you're looking for a more extensive summary of his entire oeuvre - this isn't the book for you. McTighe chooses to concentrate on his later landscapes often referred to as "allegorical" or "ideal". I aplaud the choice since these are the more complex and thus interesting one's, in my opinion. Through those works she discusses many different issues like Poussin's stoic views and his connections with the French "Libertin Erudit" movement in a particularly fascinating chapter, for instance. She skilfully shows the influence of the artists and "thinkers" of his time (and not just his time) on Poussin. In conclusion, I would say this book was one of the better one's I've read during my years of studying art history. I would definitely recommend it to anyone with the slightest interest in art. ... Read more

Book Description

Nicolas Poussin, perhaps the most famous French painter of the seventeenth century, lived and worked for many years in Rome. Yet he remained deeply engaged with cultural and political transformations occurring in France, argues Todd P. Olson in this original exploration of Poussin's paintings, their production, and their reception. Poussin's references to ancient literature and sculpture addressed a political elite-the Robe nobility-whose humanist education in classical antiquity equipped them to relate Greek and Roman history to contemporary events and to deploy ancient precedents in legalistic and political arguments. When the French civil war known as the Fronde erupted in the middle of the seventeenth century, the paintings that Poussin exported to France responded directly in both subject and style to the crisis in monarchical authority and the disenfranchisement of his Robe patrons.Olson demonstrates that Poussin's association with a disgraced political group, his loss of official support, and his exile in Italy imbued his history paintings with a symbolic weight. The painter's audience considered the hard-earned pleasures of his restrained, difficult pictorial style a benchmark of integrity as well as a criticism of the Regency's indiscriminate collecting practices and taste for foreign luxury. Poussin transformed the easel painting-its making and collection-into an expression of cultural and political commitments binding a community. Olson's fresh insights reveal the importance of this painter's work to a learned and powerful French constituency at a critical moment in French history and demonstrate that Poussin's famously timeless style was far more responsive to historical contingencies than has been previously recognized ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Beautiful, Well-Researched, A Breath of Fresh Air!!
I came across this wonderful book almost by accident as I was looking for something, ANYTHING, dealing with Poussin's ties to his native France (in more than a superficial way). The majority of books about Poussin deal, for admittedly good reasons, with Poussin's life in Rome where he lived and worked for many years. Still, it is amazing that Olson is, to the best of my knowledge, the first art historian to really explore the range of political and friendship-based (French) issues Poussin's paintings grappled with even as he lived in exile. As someone who is living in exile from my own native country, I can tell you, I continue to be deeply concerned about, and influenced by, the political news from home, and the information I receive in letters from friends. Certainly Poussin's experience was no different. I also appreciated that Olson took the time to spotlight the political work of women during the Fronde, and also his discussion of women's roles throughout the book as a whole. It is astonishing (well, maybe not) that within the Poussin scholarship with which I am familiar, women exist only as a (now) notable absence -- this despite the great number of strong women Poussin himself depicts in his work! Olson takes great first steps in rectifying this oversight. The book is well researched and I learned much about the social and cultural milieus Poussin operated within. Beyond this, I will say that the book was a pleasure to read -- especially having read a few books and essays on Poussin (by writers I will not mention) that were dry as aesbestos in the Gobi Desert. Olson weaves Beautiful Prose, Historical Accuracy and Intriguing Scholarship into an especially relevant account of this Great and Gifted Painter. ... Read more

Book Description

This collection of essays about the great seventeenth-century French artist, Nicolas Poussin, addresses issues including: the artist's practice and theory, his patronage, the reception and interpretation of his work, and his critical fortune at the hands of scholars, artists, and the art-going public. Together, the essays offer the reader not a single, uniform "Poussin" but a series of varied, sometimes contradictory, views of the artist that differ according to the historical lens through which his work is examined. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

By investigating the important cultural figures who were close to the painter Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), Elizabeth Cropper and Charles Dempsey allow the reader to enter not only the Rome where he lived but also the Rome of antiquity, which he admired and tried to reconstruct. The authors argue that Poussin's works were structured by his friendships, as well as by his study of ancient history and early Christian archaeology, his exploration of the poetry and mystery of ancient places, and his conception of his paintings as gifts rather than commercial objects. By looking into this rich background, they also show how Poussin introduced into his theory and practice of painting a new concept of the inherent expressiveness of form that was quite different from the then prevailing conventions for depicting the passions and affections.

The first two chapters treat Vincenzo Giustiniani, the most sophisticated patron and art collector of his day, whose purpose and rationale for collecting ancient sculpture deeply influenced Poussin and the Flemish sculptor Francois Duquesnoy. Among other topics, the succeeding sections take up Poussin's deep readings of Montaigne and his friendships with the poet Giovanni Battista Marino, with artists such as Pietro Testa and Matteo Zaccolini, and with patrons and true friends, among them Cassiano dal Pozzo and Paul Fréart de Chantelou, for whom Poussin painted a special self-portrait, which the artist said stood for "The Love of Painting and Friendship." ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Then Again,I'm a sucker for Art Books like this one!!
Anything with enough color photos of Old Masters will get a 5-star from me. My only complaint here is this one has only 12 in color, although there are 165 black and whites. Anyway, a wonderfully written work describing a good bit of the painter's world from about 1600-1665, including the classical Greek influence on many artists of the time, including Poussin. A nice tale of generally nice people (seems unusual) including patrons and collectors, centered in Rome. All in all a beautiful book,despite the lack of color glossies! You can tell that this,like any other Old Master Bios I've read, is a real labor of love for all concerned...If it is too in depth, at times like a PH.D., its still a terrific browser for the above reasons!! ... Read more