Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin's paintings organize biblical and classical stories through carefully placed figures, gestures, and landscape settings. Working mainly in Rome, he studied ancient remains and earlier painting while making easel pictures for patrons interested in history and literature. The Triumph of Pan gives classical festivity a measured arrangement of bodies, drapery, and objects. His first Seven Sacraments series, commissioned by Cassiano dal Pozzo, represents the holy rites of the Catholic Church through their historical narratives. In Eucharist, Christ and the disciples gather around a candlelit Last Supper, with the tiled floor, architecture, and rhythm of hands supporting the composition. Drawings and close planning helped him coordinate such scenes, while outdoor sketching supplied observations for landscapes developed in the studio. In those landscapes, human actions and ancient stories take their place within broader arrangements of trees, buildings, water, and distant hills.