Early years – Les Andelys and Paris Nicolas Poussin's early biographer was his friend
Giovanni Pietro Bellori, who relates that Poussin was born near
Les Andelys in
Normandy and that he received an education that included some Latin, which would stand him in good stead. Another early friend and biographer,
André Félibien, reported that "He was busy without cease filling his sketchbooks with an infinite number of different figures which only his imagination could produce." His early sketches attracted the notice of
Quentin Varin, who passed some time in Andelys, but there is no mention by his biographers that he had a formal training in Varin's studio, though his later works showed the influence of Varin, particularly by their storytelling, accuracy of facial expression, finely painted drapery and rich colors. His parents apparently opposed a painting career for him, and around 1612, at the age of eighteen, he ran away to Paris. His early sketches gained him a place in the studios of established painters. He worked for three months in the studio of the
Flemish painter
Ferdinand Elle, who painted almost exclusively portraits, a genre that was of little interest to Poussin. Afterward, he is thought to have studied for one month in the studio of
Georges Lallemand, but Lallemand's inattention to precise drawing and the articulation of his figures apparently displeased Poussin. and four illustrating battle scenes from Roman history. The "Marino drawings", now at
Windsor Castle, are among the earliest identifiable works of Poussin. Marino's influence led to a commission for some decoration of Marie de' Medici's residence, the
Luxembourg Palace, then a commission from the first Archbishop of Paris,
Jean-François de Gondi, for a painting of the death of the Virgin (since lost) for the Archbishop's family chapel at the Cathedral of
Notre-Dame de Paris. Marino took him into his household, and, when he returned to Rome in 1623, invited Poussin to join him. Poussin remained in Paris to finish his earlier commissions, then arrived to Rome in the spring of 1624.
First residence in Rome (1624–1640) File:Nicolas Poussin - La Mort de Germanicus.jpg|
Death of Germanicus, 1628,
Minneapolis Institute of Art File:'Venus_and_Adonis',_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Nicolas_Poussin,_c._1628-29,_Kimbell_Art_Museum.jpg|
Venus and Adonis, –1629,
Kimbell Art Museum File:Nicolas Poussin - L'Inspiration du poète (1629).jpg|
The Inspiration of the Poet, 1629–30,
Louvre File:Nicolas Poussin - Le Martyre de Saint Érasme.jpg|
The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus 1630,
Vatican Museums Poussin was thirty when he arrived in Rome in 1624. The new Pope,
Urban VIII, elected in 1623, was determined to maintain the position of Rome as the artistic capital of Europe, and artists from around the world gathered there. Poussin could visit the churches and convents to study the works of
Raphael and other Renaissance painters, as well as the more recent works of
Carracci,
Guido Reni and
Caravaggio (whose work Poussin detested, saying that Caravaggio was born to destroy painting). He studied the art of painting nudes at the Academy of
Domenichino, and frequented the
Accademia di San Luca, which brought together the leading painters in Rome, and whose head in 1624 was another French painter,
Simon Vouet, who offered lodging to Poussin. Poussin became acquainted with other artists in Rome and tended to befriend those with classicizing artistic leanings: the French sculptor
François Duquesnoy whom he lodged with in 1626 in via dei Maroniti; the French artist
Jacques Stella;
Claude Lorrain; Domenichino;
Andrea Sacchi; and joined an informal academy of artists and patrons opposed to the current
Baroque style that formed around
Joachim von Sandrart. Rome also offered Poussin a flourishing art market and an introduction to an important number of art patrons. Through Marino, he was introduced to Cardinal
Francesco Barberini, the brother of the new Pope, and to
Cassiano dal Pozzo, the Cardinal's secretary and a passionate scholar of ancient Rome and Greece, who both later became his important patrons. The new art collectors demanded a different format of paintings; instead of large altarpieces and decoration for palaces, they wanted smaller-size religious paintings for private devotion or picturesque landscapes, mythological and history paintings. In 1628, he was living on the via Paolino (Babuino) with
Jean le Maire. This disappointment, and the loss of a competition for a fresco cycle in
San Luigi dei Francesi, convinced Poussin to abandon the pursuit of large-scale, public commissions and the burdensome competitions, content restrictions, and political machinations they entailed. Instead, Poussin would re-orient his art towards private collectors, for whom he could work more slowly, with increasing control over subject matter and style. Along with Cardinal Barberini and Cassiano dal Pozzo, for whom he painted the first
Seven Sacraments series, Poussin's early private patrons included the Chanoine Gian Maria Roscioli, who bought
The Young Pyrrhus Saved and several other important works; Cardinal
Giulio Rospigliosi, for whom he painted the second version of
The Shepherds of Arcadia; and Cardinal
Luigi Omodei, who received the
Triumphs of Flora (–32,
Louvre). He painted the
Massacre of the Innocents for the banker
Vincenzo Giustiniani; the jewel thief and art swindler, Fabrizio Valguarnera, bought
Plague of Ashdod and commissioned
The Empire of Flora. He also received his first French commissions from
François de Créquy, the French envoy to Italy, later, from
Cardinal Richelieu for a series of
Bacchanales. His house was at the foot of Trinité des Monts, near the city gate, where other foreigners and artists lived; its exact location is not known but it was opposite the church of
Sant'Atanasio dei Greci.
Return to France (1641–42) File:Poussin Miracle de saint François Xavier Louvre.jpg|
The Miracle of Saint Francis Xavier, 1641, Louvre File:Nicolas Poussin - Le Temps soustrait la Vérité aux atteintes de l'Envie et de la Discorde.jpg|
Time defending Truth from the attacks of Envy and Discord, for the study of
Cardinal Richelieu, 1642, Louvre File:Frontispiece- Virgil, Publii Virgilii Maronis Opera MET DP822417.jpg|Frontispiece for the works of
Virgil for the royal printing house, 1641, Metropolitan Museum As the work of Poussin became well known in Rome, he received invitations to return to Paris for important royal commissions, proposed by
François Sublet de Noyers, the Superintendent of the
Bâtiments du Roi for
Louis XIII. When Poussin declined, Noyers sent his cousins, Roland Fréart de Chambray and Paul Fréart, to Rome to persuade Poussin to come home, offering him the title of
First Painter to the King, plus a substantial residence at the
Tuileries Palace. Poussin yielded, and in December 1640 he was back in Paris. The correspondence of Poussin to Cassiano dal Pozzo and his other friends in Rome show that he was appreciative of the money and honors, but he was quickly overwhelmed by a large number of commissions, particularly since he had taken the habit of working slowly and carefully. His new projects included
The Institution of the Eucharist for the chapel of the
Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and
The Miracle of Saint Francis-Xavier for the altar of the church of the novitiate of the Jesuits. In addition, he was asked to the ceilings and vaults for the
Grand Galerie of the
Louvre Palace, and to paint a large allegorical work for the study of Cardinal Richelieu, on the theme
Time Defending Truth from the Attacks of Envy and Discord, with the figure of "Truth" clearly standing for Cardinal Richelieu. He was also expected to provide designs for royal tapestries and the front pieces for books from the royal printing house. He was also subjected to considerable criticism from the partisans of other French painters, including his old friend Simon Vouet. He completed a painting of the
Last Supper (now in the Louvre), eight cartoons for the
Gobelins tapestry manufactory, drawings for a proposed series of
grisaille paintings of the
Labors of Hercules for the Louvre, and a painting of the
Triumph of Truth for Cardinal Richelieu (now in the Louvre). He was increasingly unhappy with the court intrigues and the overwhelming number of commissions. In the autumn of 1642, when the King and court were out of Paris in
Languedoc, he found a pretext to leave Paris and to return permanently to Rome.
Final years in Rome (1642–1665) File:Landscape with orpheus and eurydice 1650-51.jpg|
Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice, 1650–51 File:Poussin, Nicolas - Paysage avec Orion aveugle cherchant le soleil - 1658.jpg|
Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun, 1658,
Metropolitan Museum of Art File:Nicolas Poussin - L'Été ou Ruth et Booz.jpg|
The Four Seasons (Summer), 1660–1664, Louvre When he returned to Rome in 1642, he found the art world was in transition. Pope Urban VIII died in 1644, and the new Pope,
Innocent X, was less interested in art patronage, and preferred Spanish over French culture. Poussin's great patrons, the
Barberinis, departed Rome for France. He still had a few important patrons in Rome, including Cassiano dal Pozzo and the future Cardinal
Camillo Massimi, but began to paint more frequently for the patrons he had found in Paris. Cardinal Richelieu died in 1642, and Louis XIII died in 1643, and Poussin's Paris sponsor, Sublet de Noyer, lost his position, but Richelieu's successor,
Cardinal Mazarin, began to collect Poussin's works. In October 1643, Poussin sold the furnishings of his house in the
Tuileries in Paris, and settled for the rest of his life in Rome. In 1647,
André Félibien, the secretary of the French Embassy in Rome, became a friend and painting student of Poussin, and published the first book devoted entirely to his work. His growing number of French patrons included the Abbé Louis Fouquet, brother of
Nicolas Fouquet, the celebrated
Superintendent of Finances of the young
Louis XIV. In 1655 Fouquet obtained for Poussin official recognition of his earlier title as First Painter of the King, along with payment for his past French commissions. To thank Fouquet, Poussin made designs for the baths Fouquet was constructing at his château at
Vaux-le-Vicomte. Another important French patron of Poussin in this period was
Paul Fréart de Chantelou, who came to Rome in 1643 and stayed there for several months. He commissioned from Poussin some of his most important works, including the second series of the
Seven Sacraments, painted between 1644 and 1648, and his
Landscape with Diogenes. In 1649 he painted the
Vision of St Paul for the comic poet
Paul Scarron, and in 1651 the
Holy Family for
Charles III de Créquy. Landscapes had been a secondary feature of his early work; in his later work nature and the landscape was frequently the central element of the painting. He lived an austere and comfortable life, working slowly and apparently without assistants. The painter
Charles Le Brun joined him in Rome for three years, and Poussin's work had a major influence on Le Brun's style. In 1647, his patrons Chantelou and Pointel requested portraits of Poussin. He responded by making two self-portraits, completed together in 1649. He suffered from declining health after 1650, and was troubled by a worsening tremor in his hand, evidence of which is apparent in his late drawings. Nonetheless, in his final eight years he painted some of the most ambitious and celebrated of his works, including
The Birth of Bacchus,
Orion Blinded Searching for the Sun,
Landscape with Hercules and Cacus, the four paintings of
The Seasons and
Apollo in love with Daphné. His wife Anne-Marie died in 1664, and thereafter his own health sank rapidly. On 21 September he dictated his will, and he died in Rome on 19 November 1665 and was buried in the church of
San Lorenzo in Lucina. ==Subjects==