Nicolas Poussin was a French painter whose classical style influenced the dispute between Poussinists and Rubenists. He is regarded as one of the most important artists of Baroque in European art history.
Born: in June 1594 in Les Andelys, Normandy (now France)
Died: 19 November 1665 in Rome, Papal State (now Italy)
After a training with Georges Lallemand, the French painter Nicolas Poussin goes to Rome in 1624, where he is introduced to the artists' circles by the Italian poet Cavaliere Marino. Nicolas Poussin develops his own style under the influence by contemporary classicalist artists and his great interest in the art of antiquity and Renaissance, as well as by intensely exploring philosophical texts, literature and art theory. He mainly produces paintings with allegorical, mythological content as well as some historical works, and later also paintings, which address philosophical and literary ways of thinking. The most famous of these latter paintings, which are quite unique in art history, is the painting “Et in Arcadia ego”. Also, landscapes, which are depicted mostly in a very idealistic way in his works, are given special preference by Nicolas Poussin. They do not just represent a background decoration, but also reflect the thematic events and complement them in part. His style, which is a distinct classicistic, balanced style in his late work, finds its climax in the work “Four Seasons”.
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Oil Paintings