ponssiN
323
POUSSIN
less, ill, without means, and reduced to doing hacli antiquity. Among these to mention only dated works
work. The poor artist then met a countryman, the are: "The Rape of the Sabines", and "The Plague of
coolc Dughet, who took pity on him, sheltered and the Philistines" (1630, Louvre); "The Testament of
cured him, and whose daughter he married (1629). Eudamidas" (Copenhagen); "Hebrews Gathering
At the time of his arrival at Rome the school was Manna" (1639); "Moses Rescued from the Waters
divided into two parties, that of the mannerists who (1647); "Eliezer and Rebecca" (164S); "The Judg-
followed Guido, and that of the
brutal naturalists who followed
Caravaggio, both in Poussin's
opinion quackery, equally dis-
honest and remote from reality.
He detested the affected airs of
the fashionable painters, their
sentimentality, their insipidity,
their ecstasy. Nor was he less
hard on the affectation of the
"naturalists and their partiality
for ugliness and vulgarity ". He
called Caravaggio's art "paint-
ing for lackeys", and added:
"This man is come to destroy
painting". Both schools sought
to execute more beautifully or
more basely than nature ; Art was
endangered for lack of rule, con-
science, and discipline. It was
time to escape from caprice and
anarchy, from the despotism of
tastes and temperaments. And
this was what Poussin sought
to achieve by his doctrine of
"imitation". To imitate the an-
tique was to approach nature, to
learn conformity with reality, to recover life in its most
lasting, noble, and human forms. Such at least was the
doctrine and faith which he practised unceasingly in
his works and letters. For this he became an archae-
ologist, a numismatist, a scholar. He used scientific
methods, measuring
statues, consulting
bas-reliefs, studying
painted vases, sar-
cophagi, and mo-
saics. Every point
was based on an au-
thentic document.
In this he was doubt-
less influenced by a
certain narrowness
and misunderstand-
ing of the claims of
realism. To a cer-
tain extent his art
is for the initiated,
the taste for it re-
quires culture. More,
this pure ideal im-
plies a singular an-
achronism. Poussin
presents the strange
case of a man isolated
in the past and who
(After a painting by himaelQ
ment of Solomon" (1649); "The
Blind Men of Jericho" (1650);
"The Adulteress" (1653); all
these last-named pictures are at
the Louvre. To these must be
added the important double
series of pictures known as the
"Seven Sacraments". The first,
painted (1644-8) for Cavaliere
del Pozzo, is now at the Bridge-
water Gallery, London. The
second is a very different varia-
tion of the former and was painted
for M. de Chantelou, his cor-
respondent and active protector.
It is now in the collection of the
Duke of Rutland at Belvoir
Castle. This historical portion
of his work seems to have been
most in favour with his contem-
poraries. It immediately became
classic and it is certainly filled
with the highest beauty. Despite
their high and strong qualities,
however, these works no longer at-
tract us, for we often find therein
an intellectual affront, a some-
thing too literary or too rationalistic which seems to
us foreign to the genius ofpainting. Butthat this was
relished by the French of the seventeenth century is
shown by their commentaries on these works. The
description of (In
Eliezer" and the
"Manna", fills forty
quarto pages in F^li-
bien. Apart from
t hese historical
scenes which "re-
late" and "prove"
there is a purely
lyric side. In it are
evident the wonder-
ful skill of the de-
signer and the poet,
detached from any
attempt at anecdote
or "illustration".
Such were the " Bac-
chanalia", the "Tri-
umiih of Flora", the
"Ciiildhooil of Jupi-
ter", wiiich do little
more than repeat the
theme of the joy and
beauty of living.
Here Poussin's ge-
nius freed of all re-
N. rousain— Tlio U
never descended in history lower than the Antonines. straint can only be compared to that of great musicians
By his turn of mind this man of austere virtue was such as Rameau or Gluck. Properly speaking it is the
scarcely Christian. He rarely painted scenes from the genius of rhythm. This is his true sphere, as original as
Gospel. His Christ is certainly one of his weakest types, that of any master, and the inexhaustible source of his
Let me dare to say it : as an artist Poussin thinks some- emotion and poetry. In a sense his work may be con
what like a Leconte de Lisle or like the Renan of the
"Pri^resur I'Acropole". Pous.sin had no desire to see
the modern world. He left but a single portrait, his
own. He is wholly expressed in Bernini's words:
sidered as a ballet. This was his idea in his famous
letter on the modes of the ancients, who distinguished
as many as seven, the Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Hy-
polydian etc. " I de-sire", he added, "before another
"Veramente quest' uomo e stato grande istoriatore e year to compose a picture in the Phrygian manner",
grande favoleggiatore". He was a great historian, a This phrase would have aroused less amusement if
great teller of fables, an epic poet, in a word the fore- Whistler's works, with his "symphonies", "harmo-
most of his time and one of the foremost of all time, nies", "nocturns", and "sonatas", had been known.
His works ;ire very numerous. The fir.st group con- But this music of painting which Whistler made chiefly
tains subjects borrowed from sacred and profane a matter of colour seemed to Poussin a question of
