Anecdotes of Painters, Engravers, Sculptors and Architects and Curiosities of Art (Vol. 3 of 3) by S. Spooner (best ebook reader under 100 TXT) 📖

Quesnoy, called Il Fiammingo, the state of whose

finances at that time were not more flourishing than his own, and he

lived in habits of intimacy and strict friendship with that eminent

sculptor, with whom he explored, studied, and modeled the most

celebrated antique statues and bas-reliefs, particularly the Meleager in

the Vatican, from which he derived his rules of proportion. At first he

copied several of the works of Titian, and improved his style of

coloring, but he afterwards contemplated the works of Raffaelle with an

enthusiasm bordering on adoration. The admirable expression and purity

of the works of Domenichino, rendered them particularly interesting to

him, and he used to regard his Communion of St. Jerome as the second

picture at Rome, the Transfiguration by Raffaelle being the first.

 

 

 

 

POUSSIN'S DISTRESS AT ROME.

 

 

While Poussin was thus pursuing his studies at Rome, he was left by the

death of his friend Marino, in a state of extreme distress, and was

obliged to dispose of his paintings at the most paltry prices, to

procure the necessaries of life. Filibien says that he sold the two

fine battle-pieces which were afterwards in the collection of the Duke

de Noailles for seven crowns each, and a picture of a Prophet for eight

livres. His celebrated picture of "the Ark of God among the Philistines"

brought him but sixty crowns; the original purchaser sold it not long

afterwards to the Duc de Richelieu for one thousand crowns!

 

 

 

 

POUSSIN'S SUCCESS AT ROME.

 

 

A brighter day now dawned upon Poussin. What had happened to him, which

would have been regarded by most young artists as the greatest

misfortune and sunk them in despondency and ruin, proved of the greatest

advantage to him. The Cardinal Barberini having returned to Rome, gave

him some commissions, which he executed in such an admirable manner as

at once established his reputation among those of the greatest artists

of the age. The first work he executed for his patron was his celebrated

picture of the Death of Germanicus, which Lanzi pronounces one of his

finest productions. He next painted the Taking of Jerusalem by Titus.

These works gave the Cardinal so much satisfaction that he procured for

him the commission to paint a large picture of the Martyrdom of St.

Erasmus, for St. Peter's, now in the pontifical palace at Monte Cavallo.

These works procured him the friendship and patronage of the Cav. del

Pozzo, for whom he painted his first set of pictures, representing the

Seven Sacraments, now in the collection of the Duke of Rutland. He

afterwards painted another set of the same, with some variations, for M.

de Chantelou, formerly in the Orleans collection, now in that of the

Marquis of Stafford.

 

 

 

 

POUSSIN'S INVITATION TO PARIS.

 

 

In 1639, Poussin was invited to Paris by Louis XIII., who honored him on

this occasion with the following autograph letter, which was an

extraordinary and unusual homage to art:

 

 

"DEAR AND WELL BELOVED,

 

"Some of our especial servants having made a report to us of the

reputation which you have acquired, and the rank which you hold among

the best and most famous painters of Italy; and we being desirous, in

imitation of our predecessors, to contribute, as much as lies in us, to

the ornament and decoration of our royal houses, by fixing around us

those who excel in the arts, and whose attainments in them have

attracted notice in the places where those arts are most cherished, do

therefore write you this letter, to acquaint you that we have chosen and

appointed you to be one of our painters in ordinary, and that,

henceforward, we will employ you in that capacity. To this effect our

intention is, that on the receipt of this present, you shall dispose

yourself to come hither, where the services you perform shall meet with

as much consideration as do your merits and your works, in the place

where you now reside. By our order, given to M. de Noyers, you will

learn more particularly the favor we have determined to shew you. We

will add nothing to this present, but to pray God to have you in his

holy keeping.

 

"Given at Fontainebleau,

   Jan. 15, 1639."

 

 

Poussin accepted the invitation with great reluctance, at the earnest

solicitation of his friends. On his arrival at Paris he was received

with marked distinction, appointed principal painter to the king, with a

pension, and accommodated with apartments in the Tuileries. He was

commissioned to paint an altar-piece for the chapel of St. Germain en

Laie, where he produced his admirable work of the Last Supper, and was

engaged to decorate the Gallery of the Louvre with the Labors of

Hercules. He had already prepared the designs and some of the cartoons

for these works, when he was assailed by the machinations of Simon Vouet

and his adherents; and even the landscape painter Fouquieres, jealous of

his fame, presumed to criticise his works and detract from their merit.

 

 

 

POUSSIN'S RETURN TO ROME.

 

 

Poussin, naturally of a peaceful turn of mind, fond of retirement and

the society of a few select literary friends, was disgusted with the

ostentation of the court and the cabals by which he was surrounded; he

secretly sighed for the quiet felicity he had left at Rome, and resolved

to return thither without delay. For this purpose, he solicited and

obtained leave of the king to visit Italy and settle his affairs, and

fetch his wife; but when he had once crossed the Alps, no inducement

could prevail on him to revisit his native country, or even to leave

Rome. During a period of twenty-three years after his return to Rome

from Paris, he lived a quiet, unostentatious life, and executed a great

number of pictures, which decorate the principal cabinets of Europe, and

will ever be regarded as among their most valuable ornaments. He

confined himself mostly to works of the large easel size, which were

eagerly sought after, and usually disposed of as soon as they were

executed. He never made any words about the price of his pictures, but

asked a modest and moderate price, which he always marked upon the back

of his canvas, and which was invariably paid. Many of his works were

sent to Paris, where they were valued next to the productions of

Raffaelle. He was plain and unassuming in his manners, very frugal in

his living, yet so liberal and generous that at his death he left an

estate of only 60,000 livres--about $12,000. Felibien relates an

anecdote which pleasingly illustrates his simple and unostentatious mode

of life. The Cardinal Mancini was accustomed to visit his studio

frequently, and on one occasion, having staid later than usual, Poussin

lighted him to the door, at which the prelate observed, "I pity you,

Monsieur Poussin, that you have not one servant." "And I," replied the

painter, "pity your Excellency much more, that you are obliged to keep

so many."

 

 

 

 

SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS' CRITIQUE ON POUSSIN.

 

 

"The favorite subjects of Poussin were ancient fables; and no painter

was ever better qualified to paint such subjects, not only from his

being eminently skilled in the knowledge of the ceremonies, customs, and

habits of the ancients, but from his being so well acquainted with the

different characters which those who invented them gave to their

allegorical figures. Though Rubens has shown great fancy in his Satyrs,

Silenuses, and Fauns, yet they are not that distinct, separate class of

beings which is carefully exhibited by the ancients, and by Poussin.

Certainly, when such subjects of antiquity are represented, nothing

should remind us of modern times. The mind is thrown back into

antiquity, and nothing ought to be introduced that may tend to awaken it

from the illusion.

 

"Poussin seemed to think that the style and the language in which such

stories are told is not the worse for preserving some relish of the old

way of painting, which seemed to give a general uniformity to the whole,

so that the mind was thrown back into antiquity, not only by the

subject, but also by the execution.

 

"If Poussin, in imitation of the ancients, represents Apollo driving his

Chariot out of the sea, by way of representing the sun rising, if he

personifies lakes and rivers, it is noways offensive in him, but seems

perfectly of a piece with the general air of the picture. On the

contrary, if the figures which people his pictures had a modern air and

countenance, if they appeared like our countrymen, if the draperies were

like cloth or silk of our manufacture, if the landscape had the

appearance of a modern one, how ridiculous would Apollo appear instead

of the sun, and an old Man or a Nymph with an urn to represent a river

or lake?" He also says, in another place, that "it may be doubted

whether any alteration of what is considered defective in his works,

would not destroy the effect of the whole."

 

 

 

 

POUSSIN'S VIEWS OF HIS ART.

 

 

Poussin, in his directions to artists who came to study at Rome, used to

say that "the remains of antiquity afforded him instruction that he

could not expect from masters;" and in one of his letters to M. de

Chantelou, he observes that "he had applied to painting the theory which

the Greeks had introduced into their music--the Dorian for the grave and

the serious; the Phrygian for the vehement and the passionate; the

Lydian for the soft and the tender; and the Ionian for the riotous

festivity of his bacchanalians." He was accustomed to say "that a

particular attention to coloring was an obstacle to the student in his

progress to the great end and design of the art; and that he who

attaches himself to this principal end, will acquire by practice a

reasonably good method of coloring." He well knew that splendor of

coloring and brilliancy of tints would ill accord with the solidity and

simplicity of effect so essential to heroic subjects, and that the

sublime and majestic would be degraded by a union with the florid and

the gay. The elevation of his mind is conspicuous in all his works. He

was attentive to vary his style and the tone of his color,

distinguishing them by a finer and more delicate touch, a tint more

cheerful or austere, a site more cultivated or wild, according to the

character of his subject and the impression he designed to make; so that

we are not less impressed with the beauty and grandeur of his scenery,

than with the varied, appropriate, and dignified characteristics which

distinguish his works.

 

 

 

 

POUSSIN'S WORKS.

 

 

In Smith's Catalogue raisonné may be found a descriptive account of

upwards of three hundred and fifty of the works of this great artist, in

many instances tracing the history from the time they were painted, the

names of the present possessors, and the principal artists by whom they

have been engraved, together with many interesting particulars of the

life of the painter. There are eight of his pictures in the English

National Gallery, fourteen in the Dulwich Gallery, and many in the

possession of the nobility of England. The prices paid for those in the

National Gallery vary from 150 to 1000 guineas.

 

 

 

 

MARINO AND POUSSIN.

 

 

Marino was born at Naples. Some political disturbances, in which he and

his family had taken part, obliged him to quit that kingdom, and he took

refuge successively in several of the petty courts of Italy. His talent

for satire involved him in various literary disputes, as well as some

political quarrels, and he never resided long in one place, until Mary

of Medicis invited him to the court of France, where he passed much of

his life, and where he wrote most of his poems, which, though licentious

both in matter and style, contain numerous beauties, and are full of

classical imagery. Marino gave Poussin an apartment in his house at

Rome, and as his own health was at that time extremely deranged, he

loved to have Poussin by the side of his couch, where he drew or

painted, while Marino read aloud to him from some Latin or Italian

author, or from his own poems, which Poussin illustrated by beautiful

drawings, most of which it is to be feared are lost; although it is

believed that there is still existing in the Massimi library, a copy of

the Adonis in Marino's hand-writing, with Poussin's drawings

interleaved. To this kind of study which he pursued with Marino, may

perhaps be attributed Poussin's predilection for compositions wherein

nymphs, and fairies, and bacchanals are the subjects--compositions in

which he greatly excelled.

 

 

 

 

POUSSIN ROMANIZED.

 

 

While the court of France was at variance with the Holy See,

considerable acrimony existed among his Holiness's troops against all

Frenchmen; consequently, wherever they met them in Rome, they instantly

attacked them with sticks and stones, and sometimes with even more

formidable weapons. It happened one day that Poussin and three or four

of his countrymen, returning from a drawing excursion, met at the

Quattro Fontane near Monte Cavallo, a company of soldiers, who seeing

them dressed in the French