Nicolas Poussin, 'The Triumph of Silenus', about 1636

The Triumph of Silenus

Nicolas Poussin

Room 29

About the work

Overview

This playful scene celebrates Silenus, companion to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and drunkenness. Silenus, a naked old man with a bald head, sits slumped on a throne to the left, supported by two men. Too drunk to stand, he balances one leg precariously on a tiger. He is surrounded by revellers who remove their clothing and enjoy the festivities. The flute player stares towards us, inviting us to join the party. To the right, a shepherd seduces a female satyr, who symbolises lust. Behind them, two centaurs with human bodies and horses' legs attack an ass. The composition is complex and sophisticated, with trees and rocky cliffs framing the scene.

This was one of three bacchanalian scenes Poussin painted for the powerful French minister, Cardinal de Richelieu (1585–1642). The painting’s uneven finish, with some figures quite coarsely executed but objects in the foreground rendered meticulously, had led some scholars to consider this a copy after a lost work by Poussin. Recent conservation treatment and technical analysis point instead to this being Poussin’s original.

In-depth

This playful scene celebrates Silenus, companion to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and drunkenness. Silenus, a naked old man with a bald head, sits slumped on a throne to the left, supported by two men. He rests his hand on a jug of wine. Too drunk to stand, he balances one leg precariously on a tiger, although he is often shown in paintings riding an ass. The garland at Silenus‘ feet and the wreath being lowered onto his head are mentioned in Virgil’s Eclogues, a series of poems on pastoral themes (book VI, 1:16). They were worn during Roman festivals and banquets devoted to Bacchus.

The revellers remove their clothes and enjoy the festivities as they drink and dance. The flute player in the centre stares towards us, inviting us to join the party. On the right, a shepherd seduces a female satyr, who symbolises lust. In the background, two centaurs with human bodies and horses’ legs attack an ass. The idealised and muscular physique of the men reveals Poussin’s study of statues from classical antiquity. The composition is complex and sophisticated, with trees and rocky cliffs framing the scene. The faded colouring of the draperies hanging in the trees was once vibrant.

The people and setting are similar to Titian’s Andrians (Prado, Madrid) which Poussin may have seen in Rome. The frieze-like composition, with the people and trees evenly placed across the painting, is inspired by images on ancient Roman stone coffins, known as sarcophagi.

Around 1636 Poussin painted three bacchanalian scenes for the home of the powerful French minister, Cardinal de Richelieu (1585–1642): a scene depicting Silenus, The Triumph of Pan (in the National Gallery, London) and The Triumph of Bacchus (Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City). At some point before 1741 all three of Poussin’s Triumphs were replaced with copies (now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours). Despite the copy after Richelieu’s Silenus painting being identical in design to this work, most scholars since the mid-twentieth century have cast doubts over the latter’s attribution to Poussin. This was, in part, due to the painting’s discoloured varnish and uneven finish: some figures appear rather coarsely painted whilst the objects in the foreground are rendered meticulously. Recent conservation treatment and technical analysis, revealing changes made to the composition during the painting process, undermine the argument that this work is a copy and point instead to it being Poussin’s original.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Triumph of Silenus
Artist: Nicolas Poussin
Artist dates: 1594 - 1665
Date made: about 1636
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 142.9 × 120.5 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1824
Inventory number: NG42
Location: Room 29
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: John Julius Angerstein
Frame: 18th-century French Frame

Provenance

Stated by W.Y. Ottley to have come from the Barberini Collection, but not recorded in the published inventories of the seventeenth century; said in the 1838 and later editions of the National Gallery catalogue to have been ‘one of a series of three painted by Poussin for the Duke of Montmorenci’; according to John Smith, in the collection of John Lock (perhaps meaning William Lock of Norbury Park) and then in that of John Purling (of 68 Portland Place, London); his sale (London, 17 February 1801, lot 100, 670 guineas); sale of Richard Walker of Liverpool, Christie’s, London, 5 March 1803 (lot 8, 800 guineas to Angerstein); presumably the painting noted in the Angerstein collection in 1809; purchased as part of the Angerstein collection, 1824.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Humphrey Wine, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings’, London 2001; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2011

Richelieu à Richelieu

Musée des Beaux-Arts (Tours)

12 March 2011 - 13 June 2011
2021

Poussin and the Dance

The National Gallery (London)

9 October 2021 - 3 January 2022

J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles)

15 February 2022 - 8 May 2022

Bibliography

1830

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
1914

O. Grautoff, Nicolas Poussin: Sein Werk und sein Leben, Munich 1914
1946

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, London 1946
1957

Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
1966

A. Blunt, The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: A Critical Catalogue, London 1966
1980

D. Wild, Nicolas Poussin: Band I, Leben, Werk, Exkurse, Band II, Katalog der Werke, Zürich 1980
1990

A. Mérot, Nicolas Poussin, London 1990
1994

P. Rosenberg, Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665: Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Milan 1994
1995

H. Wine, 'Poussin Problems at the National Gallery', Apollo, 1995, pp. 25-8
1996

O. Bonfait, Poussin et Rome: Actes du colloque à l' Académie de France à Rome et à la Bibliotheca Hertziana, 16-18 novembre 1994, Rome 1996
1996

A. Mérot, Nicolas Poussin (1595-1665). Actes du colloque organisé au Musée du Louvre, Paris 1996
1996

M. Clayton, 'Review of Rosenberg and Prat', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVIII/1120, 1996, pp. 467-9
1998

R. Delfine, Études iconographique des Bacchanales Richelieu de Nicolas Poussin, Paris 1998
1998

H. Keazor, Poussins Parerga. Quellen, Entwicklung und Bedeutung der Kleinkompositionen in den Gemiilden Nicolas Poussins, Regensburg 1998
1998

O. Bonfait, 'Poussin aujourd'hui', Revue de l'art, 119, 1998, pp. 62-76
1999

E. Cropper, 'Conception and Deception: Poussin's Mirrors', Cleveland Studies in the History of Art, IV, 1999, pp. 76-95
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings, London 2001
2002

H.T. Goldfarb et al., Richelieu: Art and Power (exh. cat. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 18 September 2002 - 5 January 2003; Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 31 January - 20 April 2003), Montreal 2002

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

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Landscape with a Man scooping Water from a Stream

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A sandy path meanders through a landscape of dunes towards distant hills and mountains. An old man in blue with his back towards us occupies the foreground, a sack and water bottle lying beside him on the ground. He seems to be watching a younger man who bends to scoop water from a pool with a po...

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Landscape with a Man washing his Feet at a Fountain

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In this picturesque landscape the bright blue sky and leafy trees reflect the warm climate. The path and river lead our eye towards the town in the distance. In the foreground, a seated man washes his feet in a fountain. On the right, a woman beside a shepherd points towards a large column, which...

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The Adoration of the Golden Calf

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In this scene from the Book of Exodus, a large gathering of Israelites worship a life-size statue of a golden calf, or what is actually a bull, which represents the Egyptian bull-god Apis. They have decided to worship a different, pagan god while their leader Moses has been away on Mount Sinai co...

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The Adoration of the Shepherds

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Shepherds kneel and stand in order to praise the baby Jesus, watched by Joseph and the Virgin Mary. The stone archway frames an earlier episode: the same shepherds fall over in surprise as an angel appears in the clouds to announce Christ’s birth to them. Following an old tradition in painting, P...

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The Annunciation

Nicolas Poussin

The Archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God. The dove of the Holy Ghost hovers above her in a bright circle of light. The Virgin, with her eyes closed and arms outstretched, accepts her role as mother of Christ. Poussin’s treatment of this subject...

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The Finding of Moses

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According to the Old Testament Book of Exodus, Pharaoh ordered all Israelite baby boys to be cast into the river, but Moses’s mother hid him in a basket among the bulrushes. He was discovered there by Pharaoh’s daughter, Thermutis, who is shown here dressed in a yellow robe and surrounded by her...

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The infant Bacchus, god of wine, drinks from a bowl into which a satyr squeezes grape juice representing wine. Paintings commonly show Bacchus as a drunken adult, but to show him drinking alcohol at this young age is unusual. Ovid’s Metamorphoses describes how Bacchus' aunt Ino watches over him....

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