The Death of Chione is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1622 by the French artist Nicolas Poussin, his first known surviving work. He produced it during a stay in Lyon and in February 2016 it was acquired by that city's Museum of Fine Arts. It shows the death of Chione, lover of both Hermes and Apollo – she had compared her beauty to that of Apollo's sister Artemis, who hunted her down and killed her by shooting an arrow through her tongue. [1]
Nicolas Poussin was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythological subjects painted for a small group of Italian and French collectors. He returned to Paris for a brief period to serve as First Painter to the King under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, but soon returned to Rome and resumed his more traditional themes. In his later years he gave growing prominence to the landscape in his paintings. His work is characterized by clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. Until the 20th century he remained a major inspiration for such classically-oriented artists as Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Cézanne.
In Greek mythology, Daedalion or Daidalion was a son of Hesperos, the god of the Evening Star or Phosphorus, god of the Morning Star and the brother of Ceyx. Ceyx describes his brother Daedalion as a great warrior, full of courage and vigour but acknowledged that he could also be harsh, relishing the cruelty of war. The story of Daedalion's life is told mainly in Ovid's Metamorphoses though passing references can be found in other classical works. It is possible the story may have originated with Boios. In the tale Daedalion, grief-stricken following the death of his daughter Chione, attempts to cast himself off Mount Parnassus only to be transformed into a hawk by Apollo.
Et in Arcadia ego is a 1637–38 painting by French Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin. It depicts a pastoral scene with idealized shepherds from classical antiquity, and a woman, possibly a shepherdess, gathered around an austere tomb that includes the Latin inscription "Et in Arcadia ego", which is translated to "Even in Arcadia, there am I"; "Also in Arcadia am I"; or "I too was in Arcadia". Poussin also painted another version of the subject in 1627 under the same title.
Noël Coypel was a French painter, and was also called Coypel le Poussin, because he was heavily influenced by Poussin.
The Funeral of Phocion is a 1648 landscape painting, also known as The Burial of Phocion, Landscape with the Funeral of Phocion and Landscape with the Body of Phocion Carried out of Athens, by the French artist Nicolas Poussin. Phocion was an Athenian statesman from the 4th century BC.
Landscape with the Ashes of Phocion is a 1648 painting, also known as Landscape with the Ashes of Phocion (Collected by His Widow) and The Ashes of Phocion Collected by his Widow, by French artist Nicolas Poussin. Phocion was an Athenian statesman from the 4th century BC.
The Four Seasons was the last set of four oil paintings completed by the French painter Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). The set was painted in Rome between 1660 and 1664 for the Duc de Richelieu, the grand-nephew of Cardinal Richelieu. Each painting is an elegiac landscape with Old Testament figures conveying the different seasons and times of the day. Executed when the artist was in failing health suffering from a tremor in his hands, the Seasons are a philosophical reflection on the order in the natural world. The iconography evokes not only the Christian themes of death and resurrection but also the pagan imagery of classical antiquity: the poetic worlds of Milton's Paradise Lost and Virgil's Georgics. The paintings currently hang in a room on their own in the Louvre in Paris.
By his absolute humility, by his effacement of himself, by his refusal to use any tricks or overstate himself, Poussin has succeeded in identifying himself with nature, conceived as a manifestation of the divine reason. The Seasons are among the supreme examples of pantheistic landscape painting.
Jamais peut-être, dans toute la peinture occidentale, des choses aussi nombreuses et parfois si difficiles n'avaient été dites avec une telle simplicité. Jamais un peintre ne s'était aussi pleinement identifié à l'ordre du monde. Mais cette identification n'est ni « une projection » ni une confidence : là est le sens de cette impersonalité que l'on a pu reprocher à Poussin, et qui fait sa grandeur.
A Dance to the Music of Time is a painting by Nicolas Poussin in the Wallace Collection in London. It was painted between c. 1634 and 1636 as a commission for Giulio Rospigliosi, who according to Gian Pietro Bellori dictated its detailed iconography. The identity of the figures remains uncertain, with differing accounts.
Landscape with Orpheus and Eurydice is a 124 × 200 cm oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Nicolas Poussin, painted between 1650 and 1653. It depicts a mythological subject in the classical style and is in the collection of the Louvre in Paris.
The Inspiration of the Poet is an oil-on-canvas in the classical style by the artist Nicolas Poussin, painted between 1629 and 1630. It is currently held and exhibited at the Louvre in Paris.
Extreme Unction is one of a set of seven scenes representing the sacraments of the Catholic Church, painted between 1638 and 1640 by the French artist Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665).
The Plague of Ashdod is also known as The Miracle of the Ark in the Temple of Dagon, by the French artist Nicolas Poussin. The painting represents a story from 1 Samuel in the Old Testament. The original painting currently hangs in the Louvre in Paris. Poussin was commissioned to paint The Plague of Ashdod by Fabrizio Valguarnera. Fabrizio Valguarnera was a Sicilian merchant who was put on trial for laundering money through the purchase of this painting; he also commissioned more than one version of this piece. Poussin painted this during a plague that took place in Italy from 1629 to 1631, which influenced his accurate portrayal of the epidemic.
Parnassus or Apollo and the Muses is a 1631–1633 painting by Nicolas Poussin, inspired by Raphael's Parnassus in the Stanza della Segnatura and now in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Among the figures depicted are Apollo and Homer. It was first mentioned in Spain in a 1746 inventory of the La Granja de San Ildefonso palace.
Sleeping Venus with Cupid is an oil on canvas painting by the French artist Nicolas Poussin. It was completed in 1630 and is now part of the collection of the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, Germany.
The Death of Germanicus is a painting made in 1627 by Nicolas Poussin for Francesco Barberini. It is kept at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus is an altarpiece, painted by Nicolas Poussin in 1628–1629, originally displayed in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.
Venus Weeping for Adonis is a c.1625 oil on canvas painting by the French painter Nicolas Poussin. Painted after his relocation to Italy it is now part of the collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen.
Apollo and Daphne or Apollo in Love with Daphne is a 1661-1664 oil on canvas painting by Nicolas Poussin, produced just before the painter's death and now in the Louvre Museum.
Apollo and Daphne is a transformation myth of Hellenistic origin.