Poussin's Paintings
Poussin's Paintings

Author: David Carrier

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 9780271041674

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Employing the methodologies of the new art history as well as some tools provided by poststructuralism, historiography, and analytic philosophy, Poussin's Paintings offers a novel approach to the art of Poussin. David Carrier begins with a comprehensive analysis of Poussin's self-portraits, which provides the starting point for a critical discussion of the traditional strategies of Poussin scholarship and for an evaluation of the status of this artist. Carrier shows that Poussin can be properly understood only by seeing how his visual and political culture differs from ours. Carrier examines the traditional approaches of Poussin scholars, noting the limitations of their views and showing how they not only shape our image of the artist but also restrict out ability to properly grasp his concerns. Carrier also considers the important conceptual claims of connoisseurs and reveals how their work invokes an implicit theory of Poussin's development. Carrier then focuses on a group of paintings concerned with erotic themes, demonstrating the inadequacy of traditional accounts of these pictures. He extends his analysis to a discussion of Poussin's landscapes, which have a different and more important place in his development than the older accounts claim. Carrier places Poussin within the artistic and political culture of seventeenth-century Rome. He asserts that artists of the time were concerned with the problem of belatedness and that Poussin attempted to return to the tradition of the High Renaissance, reworking images from that tradition in response to his own visual culture. Carrier argues that Poussin's art is thus best understood as a response to that setting for baroque art, and he relates Poussin's work to the later tradition of French history painting.

Nicolas Poussin Paints the Seven Sacraments Twice
Nicolas Poussin Paints the Seven Sacraments Twice

Author: Tony Green

Publisher: Virago Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 440

ISBN-13:

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The two sets of seven paintings of the Sacraments are among the great achievements of European seventeenth century art. They have always been recognised as among the masterpieces of the founding father of modern French painting, Nicolas Poussin. The traditional view of these paintings has been limited: by the assumption that they were painted merely to satisfy seventeenth century classical taste and antiquarian scholarship. In this first book-length study of the Sacraments the author illuminates their religious content. Never before have these paintings been connected with Counter-reformation biblical commentary and illustrations in devotional books. The hieroglyphs and other mysteries in the paintings are all discussed, including the meaning of the famous E on the pillar in the second version of Ordination. This has always puzzled scholars. However, its meaning is clarified in this book. Prior to this there has been no adequate recognition of the importance of the Sacraments in the history of paintings of narrative subjects. For the first time, the two sets of paintings are seen as continuous series of paintings to be seen in a particular order and intended as the main decoration of particular rooms. This book also includes detailed commentary on Poussin's many preparatory drawings. The historical context comes vividly to life in commentary provided on Poussin's letters to his patrons. This book is essential reading for specialists, but it will also enthral anyone interested in the paintings of the Old Masters. Comments About the Book: "I know of no more splendidly developed exercise in the close reading of Poussin's paintings, and the literature associated with them. In giving sustained attention to this group of images, Tony Green shows that when Poussin claimed to have neglected nothing, he indeed was indeed serious. I have learned much from this admirable book, which makes a contribution to contemporary debate about this very great artist." -- David Carrier, Getty Research Institute, Author, Poussin's Paintings: A Study in Art-Historical Methodology.

Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin

Author: Anthony Blunt

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2023-10-17

Total Pages: 776

ISBN-13: 069125351X

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A landmark account of the work, thought, and life of the seventeenth-century French painter In this book, Anthony Blunt presents a rich account of the paintings, life, and development of the great seventeenth-century French classicist Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), addressing the artist’s entire oeuvre alongside his theory of art. Blunt shows why Poussin holds a central place in the great French humanist line that produced Racine, Molière, Voltaire, the Parnassians, and Mallarmé. At the same time, he examines how Poussin looks back to Raphael and ancient Rome, while pointing forward to Ingres, Cézanne, the Cubists, and Picasso.

Quid est sacramentum?
Quid est sacramentum?

Author: Walter Melion

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-10-07

Total Pages: 692

ISBN-13: 9004408940

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‘Quid est sacramentum?’ Visual Representation of Sacred Mysteries in Early Modern Europe, 1400–1700 investigates how sacred mysteries (in Latin, sacramenta or mysteria) were visualized in a wide range of media, including illustrated religious literature such as catechisms, prayerbooks, meditative treatises, and emblem books, produced in Italy, France, and the Low Countries between ca. 1500 and 1700. The contributors ask why the mysteries of faith and, in particular, sacramental mysteries were construed as amenable to processes of representation and figuration, and why the resultant images were thought capable of engaging mortal eyes, minds, and hearts. Mysteries by their very nature appeal to the spirit, rather than to sense or reason, since they operate beyond the limitations of the human faculties; and yet, the visual and literary arts served as vehicles for the dissemination of these mysteries and for prompting reflection upon them. Contributors: David Areford, AnnMarie Micikas Bridges, Mette Birkedal Bruun, James Clifton, Anna Dlabačková, Wim François, Robert Kendrick, Aiden Kumler, Noria Litaker, Walter S. Melion, Lars Cyril Nørgaard, Elizabeth Pastan, Donna Sadler, Alexa Sand, Tanya Tiffany, Lee Palmer Wandel, Geert Warner, Bronwen Wilson, and Elliott Wise.

Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin

Author: Oskar Bätschmann

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 9780948462436

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Publication coincides with the 400th anniversary of the artist's birth and a forthcoming exhibition

Painting the Sacred in the Age of Romanticism
Painting the Sacred in the Age of Romanticism

Author: Cordula Grewe

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 437

ISBN-13: 1351555227

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After a century of Rationalist scepticism and political upheaval, the nineteenth century awakened to a fierce battle between the forces of secularization and the crusaders of a Christian revival. From this battlefield arose an art movement that would become the torchbearer of a new religious art: Nazarenism. From its inception in the Lukasbund of 1809, this art was controversial. It nonetheless succeeded in becoming a lingua franca in religious circles throughout Europe, America, and the world at large. This is the first major study of the evolution, structure, and conceptual complexity of this archetypically nineteenth-century language of belief. The Nazarene quest for a modern religious idiom evolved around a return to pre-modern forms of biblical exegesis and the adaptation of traditional systems of iconography. Reflecting the era's historicist sensibility as much as the general revival of orthodoxy in the various Christian denominations, the Nazarenes responded with great acumen to pressing contemporary concerns. Consequently, the artists did not simply revive Christian iconography, but rather reconceptualized what it could do and say. This creativity and flexibility enabled them to intervene forcefully in key debates of post-revolutionary European society: the function of eroticism in a Christian life, the role of women and the social question, devotional practice and the nature of the Church, childhood education and bible study, and the burning issue of anti-Judaism and modern anti-Semitism. What makes Nazarene art essentially Romantic is the meditation on the conditions of art-making inscribed into their appropriation and reinvention of artistic tradition. Far from being a reactionary move, this self-reflexivity expresses the modernity of Nazarene art. This study explores Nazarenism in a series of detailed excavations of central works in the Nazarene corpus produced between 1808 and the 1860s. The result is a book about the possibility of religious meanin

A New History of Western Art
A New History of Western Art

Author: Koenraad Jonckheere

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2022-10-15

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 0300267525

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A radical re-examination of 2,500 years of European art, deconstructing and demystifying its long history from ancient to present How has art evolved from the pursuit of the 'ideal' human form to a black square on a white canvas? Why is a banana duct-taped to a wall worth more on the art market than a beautiful seventeenth-century landscape? By taking art for what it actually is -- a piece of stone or wood, a sheet of paper with some lines drawn on it, a painted canvas -- this lively and accessible account shows how seemingly meaningless objects can be transformed into celebrated works of art. Breaking with conventional notions of artistic genius, Koenraad Jonckheere explores how stories and emotions give meaning to objects, and why changing historical circumstances result in such shifting opinions over time. Tracing its story from ancient times to present, A New History of Western Art reframes the evolution of European art and radically reshapes our understanding of art history. Published in association with Hannibal Books