 Nicolas Poussin. Et In Arcadia Ego ("I, too, in Arcadia) |
Our last area of the Baroque was the creation of two men, King Louis IVX of France (the Sun King) and Nicolas Poussin, an expatriate living in Rome.
Louis was, almost through the force of will, pulling France together into the country we know today. He wanted an art that projected an idea of order and stability that reinforced his political plans for France, and this is what Nicolas gave him.
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) epitomizes the French Classical Baroque. He spent most of his life in Rome but found the Italian Baroque too lavish and exuberant . He preferred High Renaissance Art, especially the rational order and stability of Raphael.
In 1660, the French Royal Academy (created by Louis IVX) took Poussin as its greatest modern authority. This would lead to an indoctrinated limitation on artistic enterprise and experiment. In other words, one conformed to the "Academy" rules or one was "out." Seeing that the "Academy" controlled which artists and architects were commissioned by the state, and the aristocracy commissioned (there being no middle class in France, yet) and bought only members of the "Academy," being out meant you were going to have a hard, if not impossible, time making a living as an artist. The power of the "Academy" to control art wouldn't be broken until the Impressionists in the late 1800's.
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The
Rules of French Classical Baroque
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- Subject and narrative had to be grandiose: battles, heroic actions and religious themes. |
| - Minute
details should be avoided, as well as all "low" subjects (i.e.. genre,
still-life or landscape, for its own sake). |
| - Restraint and moderation being the key words. |
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 Above: Holy Family On The Steps c. 1648 Left: Rape Of The Sabine Women c. 1636 Both by Nicolas Poussin |
Our two paintings above by Poussin illustrate the "Rules of the Academy" quite well. The subject matter of both fall within the guide lines and neither one could be considered "Genre." And for all the seeming turmoil going on in the left painting, if you take a line from the lower left corner up through the Sabine women (notice their arms) and another line from the lower right corner from the figures foot through the upraised arm and knife, you have a strong triangular structure, not as obvious as the Holy Family but just as effective in stabilizing the composition which is reenforced by the strong horizonal and vertical of the imaginary architecture.
Lynn University Art Appreciation
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