On the very threshold of this new Art-development we find the Brothers le Nain, who, choosing a totally different type of work, kept aloof from kings, princes and courtiers and devoted their attention chiefly to scenes of peasant life. Le Repos des Paysans at the Louvre is one of their best and most characteristic works. So also are La Forge and a portrait of Henry II de Montmorency, the last of his race, which ought to be at Chantilly. There is in the Cabinet Clouet at the Musée Condé a powerful portrait of Dr. Fagon, physician to Louis XIV, by Mathias le Nain. Chardin, who continued in their tradition a century later, is unfortunately not represented in the Musée Condé.
Nicolas Poussin also adopted a style of his own, although it was of a different kind. He was greatly attracted by the antique and his heart was set on visiting Rome, whither, after long struggles in Paris, he at length found his way. There he received from the painter Domenichino the necessary training for the work which he desired to take up. The French sculptor Quesnoy befriended him, and the poet Marino introduced him to Cardinal Barberini, who commissioned from him two pictures: The Death of Germanicus and The Capture of Jerusalem. When fame came to him France reclaimed him. He was greatly favoured by Richelieu and entrusted with the decoration of the Louvre. He found, however, a rival in this enterprise in the person of Simon Vouet; and difficulties arose, because Poussin claimed his right to carry out the whole work independently and on his own responsibility. Finding that he could not attain this object, he returned to Rome under the pretext of fetching his wife and never returned. He lived thenceforth in Italy; for, like the Brothers le Nain, he had no desire to become a Court Painter. His pictures were, nevertheless, greatly admired in France during his lifetime; and there are no less than nine large canvases by him in the Galerie des Peintures at the Musée Condé, besides numerous drawings. Amongst these may be noted: The Infancy of Bacchus; Theseus finding his Father’s Sword (with a striking architectural background); and Numa Pompilius and the Nymph Egeria, a composition wherein the artist displays to the full his skill in dealing with romantic landscape. A drawing of Daphne[131] flying to her father’s protection who transforms her into a laurel-bush, has special charm and shows those characteristics which he handed on to his brother-in-law and pupil Dughet, called after him “Gaspar Poussin.” There are two landscapes by the latter at Chantilly (Galerie des Peintures): An Alley in a Wood, and A View of the Roman Campagna, a subject of which he never tired. His sunsets foreshadow those of Claude Lorraine, who in his power of rendering atmospheric effect and the rays of the sun was only equalled by Turner some centuries later. The National Gallery and the Louvre possess some of Claude’s finest landscapes, while Chantilly has chiefly drawings, amongst which the most noteworthy are the Castello di S. Angelo and the Aqueducts of the Roman Campagna.[132]
Plate LXXII.
Photo. Giraudon.
DAPHNE METAMORPHOSED INTO A LAUREL TREE.
Musée Condé.