Nicolas Poussin's paintings are held in collections across the world. In Europe, many works can be seen in Paris, at the Louvre (which holds *The Andrians*, *The Arcadian Shepherds*, and *The Four Seasons* cycle) and the École des Beaux-Arts (home to *Mercury, Herse, and Aglaurus*). In London, the National Gallery holds *The Adoration of the Golden Calf*, *Cephalus and Aurora*, and several examples of Poussin's work. Dulwich College Picture Gallery also has a number of paintings, including *Landscape with a Roman Road* and *The Return of the Holy Family from Egypt*. The Wallace Collection displays *A Dance to the Music of Time*. Elsewhere in Europe, visit the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg to view *The Deposition* and *Landscape with Polyphemus*. The Prado in Madrid has *Apollo and the Muses on Parnassus* and *The Triumph of David*. The Alte Pinakothek in Munich holds *The Adoration of the Shepherds* and *Apollo and Daphne*. Outside of Europe, you can find Poussin's paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne (for example, *The Crossing of the Red Sea*), the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (which holds *The Death of Germanicus*), and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (which holds *The Continence of Scipio*). The National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa has *Cleopatra and Augustus*.

Nicolas Poussin was French, born in 1594 and died in 1665.

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) was a French painter working in Rome. Although he is best known for his paintings, prints after his work circulated widely and contributed to his fame. Poussin himself did very little printmaking. Most so-called Poussin prints are reproductive engravings and etchings made by others. These prints translate his paintings and drawings into a format that could be distributed to a wider audience. Some were made during his lifetime, with his approval, and others appeared posthumously. Artists such as Jean Pesne, Charles Audran, and Gilles Rousselet produced engravings after Poussin. These prints often focus on his classical and religious subjects. They vary in quality and accuracy, but they provide valuable information about the reception and interpretation of Poussin's art. Some collectors valued them as independent works of art; others used them as a way to study Poussin's compositions. Prints after Poussin were especially popular among those who could not travel to see his paintings in person. They helped to establish his reputation as a major figure in the history of art.

Nicolas Poussin, who lived from 1594 to 1665, occupies a position of importance in art history. His work has been consistently viewed, interpreted, and critiqued by artists, critics, historians, essayists, and philosophers. Poussin provided a French model for a revival of painting. He combined the study of nature and ancient art in a novel way, simultaneously reviving the past and signifying a living tradition. Poussin was considered a master of antique art and nature. When the young painter arrived in Rome, he made copies of antique statues, specifically measuring the Belvedere Antinous to learn about proportion. His reputation has seen fluctuations. The formalist critics appropriated Poussin's art, like Cezanne's, for whom a theory of the classic was associated with the planarity and abstraction of Wolfflin's classic style. Whenever an intellectual approach to painting has prevailed, Poussin has come into his own. His classical ideals of reason, harmony, balance, economy, moderation, clarity, and concentration have been seen as the source of great art. He looks back to Raphael and ancient Rome, and forward to Ingres and Picasso.

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) was born in Normandy and began his career as a painter in Paris. In 1624, he relocated to Rome, where he studied antique reliefs and sculpture with the sculptor Duquesnoy and painted in the studio of Domenichino.

Nicolas Poussin's methodical approach extended to his techniques and materials. He prioritised careful planning and intellectual rigour. Poussin famously used a "perspective box", a device with a small opening through which to view a miniature stage. He arranged wax figurines in this box to study composition, drapery, and light effects before starting a painting. This allowed him to experiment with different arrangements and lighting schemes in a controlled environment. Poussin's painting technique involved layering thin glazes of oil paint to achieve luminosity and depth. He often used a limited palette of colours, favouring earth tones and muted hues, to create a sense of classical restraint. Analysis of his paintings reveals a meticulous approach to brushwork, with smooth, almost invisible strokes that contribute to the overall sense of harmony and balance. His drawings, often executed in pen and ink or wash, are characterised by their clarity and precision, reflecting his interest in classical form and structure. He made preparatory sketches for nearly every composition.

Although Nicolas Poussin did not found a school in Rome, nor have a direct effect on the city's artists, he was admired in Rome at the time of his death in 1665. His brother-in-law Gaspard Dughet, also his pupil, continued Poussin's approach to depicting the natural world. A small circle of painters, including Pietro Testa, Pier Francesco Mola, and Giacinto Gimignani, drew inspiration from Poussin's early Venetian style. In France, the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, established in 1648, based its teaching on Poussin's artistic ideas. He was sometimes called 'the French Raphael'. His influence extended to Jacques-Louis David, who reinstated Poussin as a master of the French school. Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres continued this emphasis on Poussin. Later, Paul Cezanne admired Poussin. During his return to naturalism after the First World War, Pablo Picasso drew on Poussin's classicism; near the end of the Second World War, Picasso copied one of Poussin's Bacchanals.

Nicolas Poussin, the important 17th-century French painter, was influenced by a range of artists and intellectual pursuits. Although he trained in Paris, he felt his education was insufficient and essentially went back to school when he arrived in Rome. Poussin studied anatomy, reading Vesalius and attending dissections. Geometry and perspective were also important to him; he studied the writings of Alberti and Dürer, as well as manuscripts by Padre Zaccolini (a former teacher of Domenichino). He also drew from live models in the studios of Domenichino and Andrea Sacchi. Poussin was affected by the art he encountered in Rome: classical antiquity, Renaissance masters such as Raphael and Titian, and more recent artists including the Carracci. He was initially bewildered by the variety of styles and influences, and his work changed as he absorbed different approaches. While he ignored Michelangelo and Caravaggio, he admired Domenichino's *Flagellation of St Andrew*. His work displays a blend of logic, harmony and intellectual accuracy, separating his painting from that of his Baroque contemporaries.