POUSSIN, NrcorAs (c.I594-1065). A French painter, the originator of the classic and academic element in French painting. Be was born at Villers, near Les Andelys (Normandy), probably the son of a gentleman of Picardy, who had fought under Henry 1V. Placed with a Latin master, he preferred design. and having studied, against the wishes of his parents, at Les Andelys under Quentin Varin, he went to Paris. There. under great privations, he worked with Ferdi nand Elle and Georges Lallemand. His association with the mathematician Courtois, whose col lection of engravings he studied, filled his mind with the fixed determination to reach Rome. After two vain attempts he succeeded, through the aid of an Italian friend, Marini, arriving in Rome in the spring of 1624. Together with the Flemish sculptor Du quesnay, who had been his friend in Paris, and with Algardi, afterwards one of the greatest Baroque sculptors, l'oussin studied antique stat ues. He also dissected with the surgeon Larchi, sketched after Raphael and Giulio Romano, and made a thorough study of landscape in wander ings about the Campagna. A great admirer of Domenichino, he was admitted to that master's studio and was much influenced by him in com position.
He was at first unsuccessful in Rome, and dur ing a serious illness was taken care of by a coun tryman, Dughet, whose daughter he married. But through the pictures executed under the pa tronage of Cardinal Barberini, he became famous. winning in especial the favor of Richelieu. who was the means, after two years of persuasion, of inducing him in 1640 to return to Paris. He was received with high honor, made first painter to the King, and allotted an income of 3000 Byres a year. Besides a number of other paintings he produced eight cartoons for the Gobelins and the designs for a scheme of decoration, representing the "Labors of Hercules." for the Louvre. But, ever homesick for Rome, and disgusted with the intrigues of Vouet and others, he returned in September, 1642, passed the remainder of his life there in quiet, unremitting activity, and died November 10, 1665.
Although Poussin learned his art and passed the best part of his life in Italy, lie may properly be classed with the French school, into which he introduced the classical element, which even now forms one of its chief characteristics. He exercised the greatest influence upon the French painters who studied at Rome—Claude Lorrain, Lebrun, :Mignard, Bourdon, etc. His art may be divided into two periods, the dividing point of which is his sojourn in France in 1640-42. His early manner is more brilliant and facile, and better in color; afterwards his art is more domi nated by ideas and rigid in execution. His com position is symmetrical, though not always free; his drawing correct; his coloring has suffered much from the dissipation of surface pigments. In his figure compositions he renders the feeling of the antique as had no man before him, besides which he was. more than any one else, the creator of the classic or heroic landscape, afterwards de veloped by Claude Lorrain.
Nearly all of the galleries of Europe possess examples of Poussin's works. The Louvre is richest with 39, among the best known of which are the "Triumph of Flora" (1630); "Philistines Stricken by the Pestilence;" "Eleazar and Re becca ;" two "Bacchanals;" the "Last Supper;" "Orpheus and Eurydice;" "The Shepherds of Arcady," celebrated for its curious inscription Et in Arcadia ego, and his own portrait. In the Vatican is his "Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus ;" in the liarberini Palace (Rome) the "Death of Germanicus." Other, examples are in the galler ies of Hampton Court, Berlin, Munich, Dresden, Vienna, the Uffizi (Florence), Madrid (21), and in the private collections of England. His works were engraved by the most celebrated engravers of the day, including Audran, Pestle, and Stella. Consult: Poussin's Letters (Paris. 1824) ; his Wurres completes (ib., 1845) ; and his Life by Gault de Saint Germain (Paris, 1806) ; Graham (London. 1S20) ; Genre (Paris, 1823) ; Bouchitte (ib., 1858) ; Gandon (ib., 1860) ; and Poillon (Lille, 1S75).