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L' Inspiration Du Poete by Nicolas Poussin (1590-1665)

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1655. Canvas, R.F.266. 72" high by 83 1/2" wide. Acquired by the Louvre in 1911, Inventory R.F. 1774.

This was probably Poussin's most admired work, as evidenced by the declaration of Mettra to Frederick the Great in 1768: "The picture is the most important one in France by this master; it has likewise retained all its purity and freshness." But it has more than one quality that merits our attention.

Its Provenance is among the most distinguished. It figures in the inventory of the Mazarin collection (1653). It was still in the Mazarin Palace in 1655. According to Chantelou's  account,  It was probably this particular painting before which Bernini is said to have paused.

Poussin  revealed  himself as the magnificent  "creator of myths" so admired by Bernini in painting this coronation of an epic poet. For the painting was inspired by Calliope, the favorite muse, as she appeared in ancient sculpture or in the Iconology of Ripa. The face of the poet resembles that shown in the frontispiece of a 1641 Virgil engraved by Mellan. Poussin used a similar subject in a painting now in the Hanover museum which came from a collection of the kings of Hanover.

This theme of the poet carried off by Apollo fits perfectly into the context of humanistic inspiration that Poussin executed around 1630, perhaps under a continuing Renaissance influence.  (In the fourteenth century, the coronation of poets at the Capital was reestablished, and it quickly came to be regarded as a greatly coveted honor). But in parallel with this allusion to humanisam, Poussin reveals in the Inspiration what he owed to the clear hues and luminosity of the compositions by Veronese or by Titian early in hi career, to the figures of Raphael's Stanze (Apollo and Marsyas, Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican), and to the composition of certain ancient reliefs (Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides, Villa Albani).

A study of the play of these influences on Poussin's  style furnishes a clue as to the most probable date of the picture. Chantelou, in 1665, declared that "It had been done more than forty years ago". n any case, the work must have been executed  well before 1640 when the two men met. It would seem likely that it was painted around 1630. The muse recalls the Virgin of the Virgin of the Pillar (Louvre, 1629) and the studied refinement of the luminous effects is highly reminiscent of the Martyrdom of  Saint Erasmus ( Vatican, 1628-1629).

In the years 1627-1629 Poussin painted his last "baroque" compositions (Virgin of the Pillar and Saint Erasmus), then began his first "classical" pictures, of a solid and more serene composition with more muted colors (Bacchus, Stockholm Museum). Of these, the very highest rank must be assigned to the Inspiration, whose great dignity and poetic sentiment both compel respect.
298951
Viewed: Mar 14, 2025
Updated: Jan 27, 2025
Priced: Aug 07, 2022

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L' Inspiration Du Poete by Nicolas Poussin (1590-1665)
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