Nicolas Poussin, C1594-1665: the Late Mythological Landscapes: The

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Nicolas Poussin, C1594-1665: the Late Mythological Landscapes: The NICOLAS POUSSIN, C1594-1665: THE LATE MYTHOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES: THE LAST SYNTHESIS by ROSEMARY ANN WATKINS • B. A., University of Manitoba, 1951 B. L. S. (Honors) University of Toronto, 1955 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Fine Arts We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA August, 1969 ii In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and Study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thes,is for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of / tAXjlL The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada Da t e QtcC^Ug^Lt / 7, l^G^f. iii ABSTRACT Galileo's confirmation of Copernican cosmology was one of the major cultural problems of seventeenth-century Europe. Which was right? The reasoned experiments of science, or the faith of the Roman Catholic Church, which condemned such cosmology as contrary to Holy Writ? Nicolas Poussin, the classical French painter in Rome, offered his personal solution to this dilemma in his final paintings, mainly landscapes, usually mythological, but always allegorical. From antique, sixteenth- century and Campanellan thought, particularly Stoicism, he depicted the order and harmony of Creation by means of allegory. He concluded with Campanella that contemplation of the Copernican universe offered a means of spiritual growth.. To Poussin, the Stoic Divine Reason behind Nature became the sign of eternal salvation offered by God to those who accepted union with Him. In particular, he.felt that this union depended upon Man*s use of the Christian sacraments to obtain the grace needed to act in co-operation with God. This fusion of religious feeling with philosophical conviction caused an exquisite integration of form with complex allegorical content, in an intense unity characteristic of the age of the Baroque. The masterly classical freedom and precision of Poussin1s final manner adapted all pictorial elements in order to arouse delectation, or spiritual delight, in the person who perceived his pictures. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For help in doing this thesis, I wish to thank especially the follow• ing persons: first, those people working at this University, particularly Professor George Rosenberg, Executive Secretary, Department of Fine Arts, my faculty advisor, his assistants and associates; Miss Melva Dwyer, Art Librarian, and all her assistants, especially Mrs. Diana Kraetschmer; Professor James Russell of the Department of Classics; Professor Leslie Miller of the Department of German; Mrs. Joan Seiby, Head of the Humanities Division of the Library, and her assistants; Mrs. Yandle of the Special Collections Division, and hers.} I am also indebted to* the staff of the Art and Music Section of the Vancouver Public Library; my parents for much encouragement and the provision of a typewriter to reproduce this thesis; Miss Pauline Olthof who has kindly helped me proof-read ity in addition to my parents. Any errors or omissions of acknowledgment or in the body of this thesis are my responsibility. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION '(,. ri. CHAPTER I. THE BACKGROUND FOR THE LATE LANDSCAPES: POUSSIN'S LIFE, WORK AND HUMAN CONTACTS 3 Aim of this Chapter 3 Poussin's Life; His Early Mythological Allegories; His Religious Fainting 3 Poussin's Main Patrons and Friends in His Last Years 21 Paul Freart de Chantelou 21 Charles Lebrun 23 Cardinal Camillo Massimi .... 24 Abb6 Claude Nicaise 25 Michel Passart 26 Pbintel 26 Commendatore Cassiano dal Pozzo 28 Due de Richelieu 31 Jacques Stella 33 Giovanni Domenico Campanella 35 CHAPTER II. POUSSIN AS A LANDSCAPE PAINTER 40 The influence of Claude Lorraine 45 CHAPTER III. PICTORIAL ANALYSIS 47 Aim of this Chapter 47 Landscape with Polyphemus 49 Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice 57 Landscape with Pyramus and Thisbe 69 Birth of Bacchus 75 Landscape with Orion 82 Landscape with Hercules and Cacus 85 Landscape with Two Nymphs and a Snake 92 The Four Seasons, 94 Spring / 101 Summer 103 Autumn. 106 Winter 109 Apollo and Daphne 113 CHAPTER IV. POUSSIN'S IDEAS ON RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY 121 CHAPTER V. POUSSIN'S IDEAS ON PAINTING AND HIS METHOD OF WORK . .129 Page CHAPTER VI. FOUSSIN'S LATE STILE 141 CHAPTER VII. CONCLUSION 149 ABBREVIATIONSi WORKS CITED IN BRIEF IN THE FOOTNOTES 155 FOOTNOTES BY CHAPTER: INTRODUCTION .157 CHAPTER I .158 CHAPTER II 179 CHAPTER III .182 CHAPTER IV .203 CHAPTER V . .206 CHAPTER VI ..... ' . .210 BIBLIOGRAPHY (with some annotations) .211 APPENDIX: FELIBIEN'S DESCRIPTION OF THE FOUR SEASONS (translated). .221 vi LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS Page TABLES!:: I. PICTURES OF POUSSIN IN POZZO'S COLLECTION 32 ILLUSTRATIONS:. PLATE I.. LA GIRANDOLA .64 PLATE II. THE CASTEL SANT'ANGELO 65 PLATE III.POUSSIN»S DRAWING OF THE MILVIAN BRIDGE 66 1 INTRODUCTION The late landscapes of Nicolas Poussin (cl594-1665) are a richly expressive, imaginative and personal synthesis of form and content. This synthesis, analogous to the intense organic unity of poetry, is epitomized in three ways in the phrase ut pictura poesis. "as is painting, so is poetry,which came to mean "as is poetry, so is painting." First, it indicates the poetic quality of the late landscapes. Secondly, it recalls the formal, philosophical, and literary inspiration Poussin drew from classical and early Christian antiquity to paint them. Lastly it signifies his digestion of all the aspects of Renaissance art theory implicit in this saying by the seventeenth century, to the extent that Poussin invested this simile with deep meaning.z However, in'"the final period of his art, Poussin went beyond the humanistic attitude to painting connected to this dictum to depict a view of the world more representative of his century. The grandeur of sentient nature becomes pre-eminent. Mythological figures represent natural activity. Human beings are apparently puny, in size although not in significance. I believe that Poussin was accepting Copernican cosmology as interpreted by the philosopher Tommaso Campanella, his contemporary. Also, the importance of depicting nature expressed by Leonardo da Vinci in his 3 Treatise on Painting;? which Poussin had helped illustrate, appears to have influenced his acceptance of such philosophy. While fully expressing creative and destructive Nature, Poussin shows forth in his final paintings the primary, and eternal significance of the actions of God for Man. 2 In order to appreciate the mythological landscapes painted by Poussin between 1658 and 1664, it is essential to understand the main events of his life, particularly his last years, for "one cannot understand the artist without becoming acquainted with the man."^ It is necessary to know those people in Paris and Rome with whom he was connected, whom he served, and who were sympathetic to his artistic aims, especially at that time. Since his late landscapes are a synthesis of his earlier work, a review of his development in drawing and painting clarifies his final art. The sixteen-thirties are embryonic in his total artistic development, while the sixteen-fifties and sixties show a moving and novel contribution to the landscape genre moderately influenced by Claude Lorraine, as well as by Leonardo-da Vinci's work. This is demonstrated by a stylistic and icono- graphical analysis of Poussin1s late works, including a few earlier transi• tional paintings related to them in form and theme. A three-fold discussion follows. A consideration of Poussin's ideas on painting and his method of work show how the rich fusion of form and content in these paintings reflects a deeper conception of the nature of his art. This new depth is related to his ideas on philosophy and religion, both ancient and of his own time, explained in the preceding chapter (see Contents). All his ideas—on religion, philosophy and art—dynamically determine his late style, a richly expressive, imaginative, personal synthesis of content with form. 3 CHAPTER I THE BACKGROUND FOR THE LATE LANDSCAPES: POUSSIN'S LIFE, WORK AND HUMAN CONTACTS Aim of this Chapter This chapter gives a biography of Poussin concentrating on his late life. It discusses his development of mythology for allegory before that time. It comments upon his treatment of religious topics. Finally it contains biographies of the main patrons and friends of his old age. Because Poussin's late landscapes appear to express ideas held by his contemporary, the Dominican friar Tommaso Campanella, the chapter concludes with a biography of this philosopher. Foussin's Life; His Early Mythological Allegories; His Religious Painting The self-portraits of Nicolas Poussin (<L 594-1665) show us what he looked like at thirty-six and at fifty-six. For his seniority we must rely on the verbal description of Bellori. He drew a Rembrandtes.crue likeness of himself while he was ill in 1630 (figure 94)• Bernini commented that the self-portrait of 1649-1650 in Ghantelou's possession was a good likeness-.' —Bellori said his friend was tall, well-proportioned and of a rare temperament; his complexion was somewhat olive-colored, and his black hair was mainly whitened by age. His eyes were almost sky-blue; his sharp nose and broad forehead made his modest face look noble...-,«.., ...his clothing was not splendid but severe. 2; Bellori believed Poussin's character was reflected in his appearance, so well shown also in Chantelou's picture (plate 197) for he described Poussin as wise, noble in thought, shy of frequenting the aristocracy, but treating 4 all his friends of whatever rank with the simple hospitality offered in his- 3 modest home.
Recommended publications
  • DIDIER AARON Paintings × Drawings × Sculpture
    DIDIER AARON Paintings × Drawings × Sculpture JACQUES STELLA (Lyon 1596 – 1657 Paris) The Virgin and Child with Saints Francis and John the Baptist Oil on marble 38.2 x 42.6 cm. PROVENANCE: Sale Joseph Artaud, Paris, 15 November 1791, lot 90; Sotheby's, New York, 28 January 1999, lot 403; Private collection, East Coast, USA. Son of François Stellaert (1563-1605), a painter of Flemish origin working in Rome from 1576 who then settled in Lyon, Jacques Stella was born in 1596. Around 1619, he left for Florence where he worked for Cosimo II de’ Medici and probably met Nicolas Poussin and Jacques Callot. He left Florence for Rome between 1622 and 1623, where he formed a close friendship with Poussin. Stella became famous among Italian collectors with his small paintings on precious supports such as marble, agate, lapis and slate, as well as with his engravings and drawings. He worked on a series of 45 drawings illustrating the life of Saint Philippe Neri for the Jesuits. In 1634, he received a commission from the king of Spain, and left Rome with the retinue of Maréchal de Créqui, French ambassador in Rome. He passed through Venice, stayed in Lyon in 1635 and then went to Paris. Persuaded to stay by Richelieu, who took him into his service, he settled in the capital; there he benefited from lodging at the Louvre and a considerable grant. Later he was decorated with the order of Saint-Michel, which was a rare and great honour for an artist. At this period, Stella received many important commissions from Cardinal Richelieu for his château, Indre-et-Loire (Liberality of Titus, Cambridge, Fogg Art Museum).
    [Show full text]
  • The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry
    University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2013-05-07 The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry Waters, Alison Waters, A. (2013). The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28172 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/705 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Ideal of Lucretia in Augustan Latin Poetry by Alison Ferguson Waters A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA MAY 2013 © Alison Ferguson Waters 2013 ii Abstract This study concerns the figure of Lucretia as she is presented by the Roman historian Livy in the first book of Ab Urbe Condita, where she is intended as an example of virtue, particularly in terms of her attention to woolworking. To find evidence for this ideal and how it was regarded at the time, in this study a survey is made of woolworking references in the contemporary Augustan poets Vergil, Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid. Other extant versions of the Lucretia legend do not mention woolworking; Livy appears to have added Lucretia’s devotion to wool, a tradition in keeping with Augustan propaganda.
    [Show full text]
  • Eighteenth-Century English and French Landscape Painting
    University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 12-2018 Common ground, diverging paths: eighteenth-century English and French landscape painting. Jessica Robins Schumacher University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Part of the Other History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Schumacher, Jessica Robins, "Common ground, diverging paths: eighteenth-century English and French landscape painting." (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 3111. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/3111 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMON GROUND, DIVERGING PATHS: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH AND FRENCH LANDSCAPE PAINTING By Jessica Robins Schumacher B.A. cum laude, Vanderbilt University, 1977 J.D magna cum laude, Brandeis School of Law, University of Louisville, 1986 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in Art (C) and Art History Hite Art Department University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky December 2018 Copyright 2018 by Jessica Robins Schumacher All rights reserved COMMON GROUND, DIVERGENT PATHS: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH AND FRENCH LANDSCAPE PAINTING By Jessica Robins Schumacher B.A.
    [Show full text]
  • A Story of Five Amazons Brunilde S
    Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Faculty Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology Research and Scholarship 1974 A Story of Five Amazons Brunilde S. Ridgway Bryn Mawr College, [email protected] Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/arch_pubs Part of the Classical Archaeology and Art History Commons, and the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Custom Citation Ridgway, Brunilde S. 1974. A Story of Five Amazons. American Journal of Archaeology 78:1-17. This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/arch_pubs/79 For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Story of Five Amazons* BRUNILDE SISMONDO RIDGWAY PLATES 1-4 THEANCIENT SOURCE dam a sua quisqueiudicassent. Haec est Polycliti, In a well-knownpassage of his book on bronze proximaab ea Phidiae, tertia Cresilae,quarta Cy- sculpturePliny tells us the story of a competition donis, quinta Phradmonis." among five artists for the statue of an Amazon This texthas been variously interpreted, emended, (Pliny NH 34.53): "Venereautem et in certamen and supplementedby trying to identifyeach statue laudatissimi,quamquam diversis aetatibusgeniti, mentionedby Pliny among the typesextant in our quoniamfecerunt Amazonas, quae cum in templo museums. It may thereforebe useful to review Dianae Ephesiaedicarentur, placuit eligi probatis- brieflythe basicpoints made by the passage,before simam ipsorum artificum, qui praesenteserant examining the sculpturalcandidates. iudicio,cum apparuitearn esse quam omnes secun- i) The Competition.The mention of a contest * The following works will be quoted in abbreviated form: von Bothmer D.
    [Show full text]
  • Key to the People and Art in Samuel F. B. Morse's Gallery of the Louvre
    15 21 26 2 13 4 8 32 35 22 5 16 27 14 33 1 9 6 23 17 28 34 3 36 7 10 24 18 29 39 C 19 31 11 12 G 20 25 30 38 37 40 D A F E H B Key to the People and Art in Samuel F. B. Morse’s Gallery of the Louvre In an effort to educate his American audience, Samuel Morse published Descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures. Thirty-seven in Number, from the Most Celebrated Masters, Copied into the “Gallery of the Louvre” (New York, 1833). The updated version of Morse’s key to the pictures presented here reflects current scholarship. Although Morse never identified the people represented in his painting, this key includes the possible identities of some of them. Exiting the gallery are a woman and little girl dressed in provincial costumes, suggesting the broad appeal of the Louvre and the educational benefits it afforded. PEOPLE 19. Paolo Caliari, known as Veronese (1528–1588, Italian), Christ Carrying A. Samuel F. B. Morse the Cross B. Susan Walker Morse, daughter of Morse 20. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519, Italian), Mona Lisa C. James Fenimore Cooper, author and friend of Morse 21. Antonio Allegri, known as Correggio (c. 1489?–1534, Italian), Mystic D. Susan DeLancy Fenimore Cooper Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria E. Susan Fenimore Cooper, daughter of James and Susan DeLancy 22. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640, Flemish), Lot and His Family Fleeing Fenimore Cooper Sodom F. Richard W. Habersham, artist and Morse’s roommate in Paris 23.
    [Show full text]
  • Rembrandt Peale, Charles Willson Peale, and the American Portrait Tradition
    In the Shadow of His Father: Rembrandt Peale, Charles Willson Peale, and the American Portrait Tradition URING His LIFETIME, Rembrandt Peale lived in the shadow of his father, Charles Willson Peale (Fig. 8). In the years that Dfollowed Rembrandt's death, his career and reputation contin- ued to be eclipsed by his father's more colorful and more productive life as successful artist, museum keeper, inventor, and naturalist. Just as Rembrandt's life pales in comparison to his father's, so does his art. When we contemplate the large number and variety of works in the elder Peak's oeuvre—the heroic portraits in the grand manner, sensitive half-lengths and dignified busts, charming conversation pieces, miniatures, history paintings, still lifes, landscapes, and even genre—we are awed by the man's inventiveness, originality, energy, and daring. Rembrandt's work does not affect us in the same way. We feel great respect for his technique, pleasure in some truly beau- tiful paintings, such as Rubens Peale with a Geranium (1801: National Gallery of Art), and intellectual interest in some penetrating char- acterizations, such as his William Findley (Fig. 16). We are impressed by Rembrandt's sensitive use of color and atmosphere and by his talent for clear and direct portraiture. However, except for that brief moment following his return from Paris in 1810 when he aspired to history painting, Rembrandt's work has a limited range: simple half- length or bust-size portraits devoid, for the most part, of accessories or complicated allusions. It is the narrow and somewhat repetitive nature of his canvases in comparison with the extent and variety of his father's work that has given Rembrandt the reputation of being an uninteresting artist, whose work comes to life only in the portraits of intimate friends or members of his family.
    [Show full text]
  • DID JOSHUA REYNOLDS PAINT HIS PICTURES? Matthew C
    DID JOSHUA REYNOLDS PAINT HIS PICTURES? Matthew C. Hunter Did Joshua Reynolds Paint His Pictures? The Transatlantic Work of Picturing in an Age of Chymical Reproduction In the spring of 1787, King George III visited the Royal Academy of Arts at Somerset House on the Strand in London’s West End. The king had come to see the first series of the Seven Sacraments painted by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) for Roman patron Cassiano dal Pozzo in the later 1630s. It was Poussin’s Extreme Unction (ca. 1638–1640) (fig. 1) that won the king’s particular praise.1 Below a coffered ceiling, Poussin depicts two trains of mourners converging in a darkened interior as a priest administers last rites to the dying man recumbent on a low bed. Light enters from the left in the elongated taper borne by a barefoot acolyte in a flowing, scarlet robe. It filters in peristaltic motion along the back wall where a projecting, circular molding describes somber totality. Ritual fluids proceed from the right, passing in relay from the cerulean pitcher on the illuminated tripod table to a green-garbed youth then to the gold flagon for which the central bearded elder reaches, to be rubbed as oily film on the invalid’s eyelids. Secured for twenty-first century eyes through a spectacular fund-raising campaign in 2013 by Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, Poussin’s picture had been put before the king in the 1780s by no less spirited means. Working for Charles Manners, fourth Duke of Rutland, a Scottish antiquarian named James Byres had Poussin’s Joshua Reynolds, Sacraments exported from Rome and shipped to London where they Diana (Sackville), Viscountess Crosbie were cleaned and exhibited under the auspices of Royal Academy (detail, see fig.
    [Show full text]
  • Reproduction and Authenticity in Bernard Picart's Impostures
    75 ANN JENSEN ADAMS REPRODUCTION AND AUTHENTICITY IN BERNARD PICART’S IMPOSTURES INNOCENTES In 1768, nearly thirty-five years after the death of Bernard Picart, English critic William Gilpin opined: Picart was one of the most ingenious of the French engravers. His imitations are among the most entertaining of his works. The cry, in his day, ran wholly in favour of antiquity: “No modern masters were worth looking at.” Picart, piqued at such prejudice, etched several pieces in imitation of ancient masters; and so happily, that he almost out-did, in their own excellencies, the artists whom he copied. These prints were much admired, as the works of guido, rembrandt, and others. Having had his joke, he published them under the title of Impostures innocentes.1 In the final years of his life, Bernard Picart — the leading illustrator to the French Huguenot–dominated book trade in the Netherlands — had written a defense of the reproductive prints that he intended to publish with a collection of some seventy- eight exemplary etchings by him after paintings, and particularly drawings, by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century masters as well as a handful after his own designs. A year after Picart’s death in 1733, his wife published his defense — titled “Discours sur les préjugés de certains curieux touchant la gravure” (A discourse on the prejudices of certain critics in regard to engraving) — and reproductive etch- ings along with a preface, a biography, and a catalog of his works under the title Impostures innocentes; ou, Recueil d’estampes d’après divers peintres illustres (1734; Innocent impostures; or, A collection of prints after various celebrated painters).2 Twenty-two years later, the essay and an abbreviated biography were published in English along with the original — and by that time deeply worn — plates.3 This culminated a life as one of Europe’s leading printmakers, first in Paris and after 1710 in the northern Netherlands.
    [Show full text]
  • Full Press Release
    Press Contacts Michelle Perlin 212.590.0311, [email protected] f Patrick Milliman 212.590.0310, [email protected] MASTER DRAWINGS FROM SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE FEATURED IN NEW EXHIBITION AT THE MORGAN Poussin, Claude, and French Drawing in the Classical Age June 16 through October 15, 2017 New York, NY, May, 22, 2017 — The French refer to the seventeenth century as the Grand Siècle, or the Great Century. Under the rule of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, the period saw a dramatic increase in French political and military power, the maturation of French courtly life at Versailles, and an unparalleled flourishing of the arts. Poussin, Claude, and French Drawing in the Classical Age, a new exhibition opening at the Morgan Library & Museum on June 16, explores the work of some of the most celebrated artists of the time. More than fifty drawings largely from the Morgan’s collections—including works by Claude Lorrain, Nicolas Poussin, Jacques Callot, and Charles Le Brun—will be on view. Together they demonstrate the era’s distinctive approach to composition and subject matter, informed by principles of rationalism, respect for the art of classical antiquity, and by a belief in a natural world governed by divine order. The exhibition runs through October 15. Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), Death of Hippolytus, 1645, pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk. The Morgan Library & Museum; Purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1909, I, 267. “The Grand Siècle saw artistic development unlike any before it in France,” said Colin B. Bailey, director of the Morgan Library & Museum. “The visual arts, literature, music, drama, and architecture all prospered.
    [Show full text]
  • Insights from Stourhead Gardens
    Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Myth In Reception: Insights From Stourhead Gardens Thesis How to cite: Harrison, John Edward (2018). Myth In Reception: Insights From Stourhead Gardens. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2017 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000d97e Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Myth in reception: Insights from Stourhead gardens John Edward Harrison BSc (Hons) Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, UK Dip CS, Open University, UK PhD Neuroscience, University of London, UK Thesis submitted to The Open University in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) The Open University December 2017 1 Declaration I declare that this thesis represents my own work, except where due acknowledgement is made, and that is has not been previously submitted to the Open University or to any other institution for a degree, diploma or other qualification. 2 Abstract The focus of my thesis is the reception of classical myth in Georgian Britain as exemplified by responses to the garden imagery at Stourhead, Wiltshire. Previous explanations have tended to the view that the gardens were designed to recapitulate Virgil’s Aeneid.
    [Show full text]
  • Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella's Entrance of the Emperor Sigismund
    Exhibition Reviews 269 Pomp & Power: Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella’s Entrance of the Emperor Sigismund into Mantua, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, February 5–August 22, 2010. The exhibit, “Pomp and Power: Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella’s Entrance of the Emperor Sigismund into Mantua,” after Giulio Romano’s design for the Sala degli Stucchi in the Palazzo del Te in Mantua, presents an accom- plished set of twenty-five numbered engravings, first published in 1675 for Jean-Baptiste Colbert (minister and chief counselor to Louis XIV).1 Although Antoinette Bouzonnet Stella (1641–1676)2 was among the small group of women engravers Ann Sutherland Harris identified as deserving further serious study in the catalogue for the Harris-Nochlin 1976 Los Angeles County Museum exhibit,3 she remained, until this exhibition, vir- tually unknown outside the archives.4 The youngest daughter of Etienne Bouzonnet and Madeleine Stella, sister of the painter Jacques Stella (1596– 1657), Antoinette is recognized primarily for three sets of engravings, of which the one represented in this exhibition is the most widely cited. While notice of her work is slowly beginning to appear in the literature,5 more than thirty years after Harris-Nochlin, the NMWA exhibit is the first to present a substantial body of work by this remarkably accomplished French artist, and is itself, therefore, a most welcome adventus. While those familiar with Diana Scultori’s Roman engravings may find themselves on familiar turf, some visitors to the museum might think the martial subject matter of the engravings an odd choice for a woman art- ist, since exhibitions of works by early modern women artists more often focus on portraits, genre studies, floral arrangements, and still lifes, with the occasional devotional, religious study, or pastoral.6 It is, then, not alto- gether unexpected that details related to the conventions of ancient Roman campaigns and triumphs, rather than to the accomplishments of the art- ist, become the focus of the exhibition captions.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Sentences, Pressees Aux Pieds Nombreux De La Poesie'f Pierre Le Moyne's Poussin Sonnet Of1643 and Its Context
    Originalveröffentlichung in: Frangenberg, Thomas (Hrsg.): Poetry on art : Renaissance to Romanticism, Donington 2003, S. 147-176 'Sentences, pressees aux pieds nombreux de la poesie'f Pierre Le Moyne's Poussin Sonnet of1643 and its Context HENRY KEAZOR In 1643 a slim folio-booklet of 35 pages was published in Paris, bearing the title Basilica in honorem S. Francisci Xaverii a fundamentis extructa, Munificentia illustrissimi viri Domini D. Francisci Sublet de Noyers, Baronis de Dangu, Regi ab intimis consiliis, et secretis, &c. A collegii claromontani alumnis, Societatis Iesu, laudata & descripta.1 As indicated in this title, the volume praises Saint Francois Xavier, the church of the Jesuit novitiate in the Faubourg Saint-Germain in Paris (PI. 28), founded in 1630 by the Surintendant des batiments, Francois Sublet de Noyers, in honour of his patron saint Francois Xavier and inaugurated in 1642. The thirteen poems, with one exception in Latin, were written by the Peres (not, as claimed in the title, by alumni) of the College de Clermont in Paris.2 The poems describe the building in the rue du Pot-de-Fer/Saint-Sulpice (today rue Bonaparte),3 famous among the historians of architecture as one of 1 I am indebted to Martin Kaufhold (Historisches Institut, Heidelberg), who kindly helped me with the translation of the Latin poems. The booklet was first referred to in A. de Montaiglon, 'Nicolas Poussin - Lettres de Louis Fouquet a son frere Nicolas Fouquet (1655-1656)', Archives de I'art francais, 12, 2nd ser., 2, 1862, pp. 267-309. Afterwards, it was mentioned by L. Charvet, Etienne Martellange: 1569-1641, Lyons 1874, p.
    [Show full text]