Poussin, Nicolas 1594-1665
French painter, among the greatest exponents of 17th-century Baroque Classicism

Poussin was born in Les Andelys, Normandy. After struggling to make a living in Paris, he earned enough money to visit Rome in 1624, where he received commissions from Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679, nephew of the reigning pope, Urban VIII) and soon became rich and famous. Among the masterpieces dating from this period is The Adoration of the Golden Calf, now in the London National Gallery.

In 1640 he was ordered by King Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu to return to France, where he was appointed painter-in-ordinary to the king. However, the types of work he was expected to carry out, principally altarpieces and mural decorations, were unsuited to his abilities and in 1643 he returned to Rome.

He constructed his historical pictures with great deliberation and after much experimentation, even going so far as to make small clay models of his scenes to make sure the lighting was right. From this relentless search for perfection he evolved the prototype for the History Picture, which was considered academically as the highest form of art; painters strove to emulate Poussin's achievements for the next two centuries. His ?uvre also includes biblical subjects, mythological works and, from his later years, landscape.

Among the most admired works of Poussin are Cephalus and Aurora (1630, National Gallery, London), The Inspiration of the Poet (1636, Louvre, Paris), The Rape of the Sabine Women (1636-37, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), Bacchanalian Festival (1640, National Gallery, London), The Arcadian Shepherds (1638-39), and Landscape with the Burial of Phocion (1648, Louvre).

Bibliography: Anthony Blunt, Poussin (2 vols, 1967-68) and The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin (1966); W F Friedlaender, Nicolas Poussin: A New Approach (1966).