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About Nicolas Poussin
Born in 1594 in the town of Les Andelys, in Normandy, Nicolas Poussin trained with the painter Quentin Varin who was active in the area. Between 1612 and 1623 Poussin was in Paris where he met the Italian poet Giovan Battista Marino. During this time he produced a series of mythological drawings for the poet. Probably following Marino’s recommendation, Poussin moved to Rome in early 1624. He was described by the poet at this time as a "youth who has the fury of a devil". Through Marino, Poussin was introduced to prominent aristocratic patrons in Rome – Marcello Sacchetti first and then Cardinal Francesco Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII. For Barberini, the artist painted the 'Death of Germanicus' in 1627, followed by the altarpiece of the 'Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus' for St Peter’s. Poussin moved in the circles of the papal family and worked in the late 1620s for Cardinal Barberini’s erudite secretary, Cassiano dal Pozzo, producing drawings for his celebrated 'Museo Cartaceo'. The early works of Poussin are deeply immersed in the archaeological spirit of Cassiano’s milieu, tempered by the artist’s passion for Venetian sixteenth-century painting, especially for Titian’s 'Bacchanals', then in Rome.
Nicolas Poussin’s first series of the Seven Sacraments
Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia
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