NICOLAS POUSSIN’S REALM OF FLORA: PAINTED POETRY IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ROME by AMY MARIE COSTRINI (Under the Direction of Shelley Zuraw) ABSTRACT In Nicolas Poussin’s painting of the Realm of Flora in Dresden, the artist reinterprets Ovidian mythology in a manner inspired by the contemporary poetry of Giambattista Marino. The influence of Marino’s refashioning of Ovidian poetry can also be seen in Gianlorenzo Bernini’s sculpture of Apollo and Daphne in the Galleria Borghese and Caravaggio’s painting of Narcissus in the Palazzo Corsini, Rome. However, only Poussin was inspired by the poetry of Marino to create his own visual poetry. As a result, the Realm of Flora is an invention of the artist’s own mind, drawn from Ovidian mythology, composed according to the poetic theory of the modes, and guided by the principles of Marino’s lyric poetry. This close examination of the Realm of Flora reveals the painting to be an example of painted poetry by Nicolas Poussin. INDEX WORDS: Poussin, Realm of Flora, Kingdom of Flora, Marino, poetry, modes, Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, Caravaggio, Narcissus NICOLAS POUSSIN’S REALM OF FLORA: PAINTED POETRY IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ROME by AMY MARIE COSTRINI B.A., Duke University, 1999 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS ATHENS, GEORGIA 2003 © 2003 Amy Marie Costrini All Rights Reserved NICOLAS POUSSIN’S REALM OF FLORA: PAINTED POETRY IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ROME by AMY MARIE COSTRINI Major Professor: Shelley Zuraw Committee: Andrew Ladis Alisa Luxenberg Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia December 2003 iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Dr. Louise Rice and Dr. Valeria Finucci of Duke University for introducing me to the connections between art and literature which underlie my thesis. I would also like to thank the professors at the University of Georgia who aided me in the completion of this paper. Special thanks to Dr. Andrew Ladis and Dr. Alisa Luxenberg for serving as readers on my thesis committee. I offer my sincere gratitude to my major professor, Dr. Shelley Zuraw, whose encouragement gave me the confidence to research this topic in which I was most interested. This paper would not have been possible without Professor Zuraw’s dedication and invaluable assistance in guiding my research and writing. I would also like to thank my family for the encouragement and support they have provided for me to follow my interests. I would especially like to thank my Dad for investing the time and energy required to understand and assist me in thinking through ideas, as well as proofreading drafts. Finally, I would like to thank Dan Umbel, whose constant support and assistance in every way, whether it be trips to the library, proofreading, or simply sharing in my anxiety, enabled me to complete this thesis. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................... iv LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... vi INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 THE HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION OF POUSSIN’S REALM OF FLORA.......................................................................................................3 Visual Description of the Realm of Flora .................................................................3 Early History and Stylistic Evaluation of the Realm of Flora ..................................9 Iconographic Precedents and Drawings for the Realm of Flora .............................13 Ovid as the Literary Source for the Realm of Flora ................................................21 Thematic Interpretations of the Realm of Flora......................................................23 2 THE INTERPRETATION OF OVID THROUGH THE POETRY OF MARINO IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ROME............................................31 3 POUSSIN THE POET AND THE REALM OF FLORA AS VISUAL POETRY ................................................................................................52 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................73 BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................75 vi LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: Nicolas Poussin, Realm of Flora, ca. 1630-31. Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, Dresden. Illustrated in Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, 1994, 203.....................................................83 Figure 2: Nicolas Poussin, Plague at Ashdod, ca. 1630. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Illustrated in Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, 1994, 201.....................................................84 Figure 3: Nicolas Poussin, Triumph of Flora, ca. 1627. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Illustrated in Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, 1994, 147.....................................................85 Figure 4: Nicolas Poussin, Realm of Flora, Drawing in Pen with Brown Wash over Red Chalk. Windsor Castle, The Royal Library. Illustrated in Oberhuber, 1988, 353: D188 .....................................................................86 Figure 5: Copy from studio of Nicolas Poussin, Realm of Flora, Drawing in Pen with Brown Wash over Black Chalk. Windsor Castle, The Royal Library. Illustrated in Oberhuber, 1988, 353: D189 .....................................................................87 Figure 6: Nicolas Poussin, Study for Realm of Flora and other studies. Red Chalk. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Illustrated in Blunt, 1961, 437, Figure 42................88 Figure 7: Léon Davent after Primaticcio, Le Jardin de Vertumne, sixteenth century. Illustrated in Ivins, 1945-6, 128......................................................................................89 Figure 8: Andrea Mantegna, Pallas Expelling the Vices from the Garden of Virtue, ca. 1502. Musée du Louvre, Paris...................................................................................90 Figure 9: Nicolas Poussin, Dance in Honor of Priapus. Museu de Arte, São Paulo. Illustrated at http://www.masp.art.br/default.asp?PG=COL&IT=1 ...............................91 Figure 10: Andrea Mantegna, Parnassus, ca. 1497. Musée du Louvre, Paris...............................92 Figure 11: Nicolas Poussin, Adoration of the Golden Calf, ca. 1633-37. The National Gallery, London. Illustrated in Wright, 1984, 59 ...................................93 Figure 12: Nicolas Poussin, Dance to the Music of Time, ca. 1638-40. Wallace Collection, London. Illustrated in Wright, 1984, 80.......................................94 Figure 13: Allegrezza, from Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, Siena, 1613.............................................95 vii Figure 14: Nicolas Poussin, Venus with the Dead Adonis, ca. 1628. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Caen. Illustrated in Verdi and Rosenberg, 1995, Colorplate 4 .....................................96 Figure 15: Nicolas Poussin, Lamentation, ca. 1627. Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Illustrated in Mérot, 1990, 42 .......................................................................................97 Figure 16: F.G. Greuter after Pietro da Cortona, La Danse de Vertumne, from G.B. Ferrari’s De Florum Cultura, Rome, 1633. Illustrated in Roma 1630: il trionfo del pennello, 1994, 246.......................................................................................................................98 Figure 17: F.G. Greuter after Pietro da Cortona, Frontispiece for De Florum Cultura, Rome, 1633. Illustrated in Roma 1630: il trionfo del pennello, 1994, 246 ..................99 Figure 18: Gianlorenzo Bernini, Apollo and Daphne, ca. 1622-25. Galleria Borghese, Rome. Illustrated in Apollo e Dafne del Bernini nella Galleria Borghese, 1997, 114 ..........100 Figure 19: Caravaggio, Narcissus, ca. 1597-1600. Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica, Palazzo Corsini, Rome. Illustrated in Puglisi, 1998, 107 ...........................................101 Figure 20: Bernardo Castello, Narcissus. La Galleria Pallavicini, Rome. Illustrated in Zeri, 1959, Figure 118 ...........................................................................102 Figure 21: Fabrizio Chiari after Nicolas Poussin, Venus and Mercury, ca. 1626-30. Dulwich College Picture Gallery. Illustrated in Verdi and Rosenberg, 1995, 20.......103 Figure 22: Nicolas Poussin, The Inspiration of the Lyric Poet, ca. 1628-29. Niedersächsische Landesgalerie, Hanover. Illustrated in Verdi and Rosenberg, 1995, Colorplate 14...............................................................................................................104 Figure 23: Nicolas Poussin, Inspiration of the Epic Poet, ca. 1630. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Illustrated in Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, 1994, 179.................................................105 Figure 24: Nicolas Poussin, Parnassus, ca. 1628-33. Prado, Madrid. Illustrated in Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, 1994, 207.................................................106 1 INTRODUCTION The French painter Nicolas Poussin (b Les Andelys, Normandy 1594; d Rome, 1665) is an intriguing figure in seventeenth-century art. Poussin is often acclaimed as the father of French classicism and renowned for his strict adherence to classical models and intellectual essays in paint. This is an