Nicolas Poussin, 'Landscape with a Man killed by a Snake', probably 1648
About the work
Overview
A man has been crushed by a snake and lies dead beside a pond: his body is limp and his skin a greenish-grey. We see a man and woman whose gestures and movement show their fear and surprise. The way the landscape is constructed reveals the drama in stages: the running man sees the dead man and the snake, the woman sees only the fleeing man and the fishermen in the distance see only her. Trees are used to frame the action and the zigzag placement of the people in the landscape and the alternating areas of light and shade lead our eye deeper into the distance.
This scene is probably inspired by the notorious snake-infested area of Fondi, south-east of Rome, which Poussin and the painting’s owner, Jean Pointel, may have visited. The subject may be based on an actual event that Poussin heard about or witnessed.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Landscape with a Man killed by a Snake
- Artist
- Nicolas Poussin
- Artist dates
- 1594 - 1665
- Date made
- probably 1648
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 118.2 × 197.8 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1947
- Inventory number
- NG5763
- Location
- Room 29
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 18th-century French Frame
Provenance
Painted for the Parisian merchant Jean Pointel (d. 1660), perhaps by 31 August 1648; recorded in his posthumous inventory of 20–22 December 1660 with an estimated value of 1000 livres; sold by his executors and bought by [Nicolas?] du Plessis-Rambouillet (c. 1576–1664) for 1800 livres; by October 1684 in the collection of Denis Moreau (c. 1630–1707), who in 1689 became premier valet de chambre to the duke of Burgundy; thence, presumably by descent, to Moreau’s nephew, François-Louis de Nyert, marquis de Gambais, seigneur de Neuville (d. 1719); then to his son Louis de Nyert (d. 1 736), among whose posts was governorship of the Louvre and whose posthumous inventory of 2 May 1736 records NG 5763 in his apartment there; then presumably to Louis’s son, Alexandre-Denis Nyert (d. 1744), and by descent in the family; bought from the family (but not at the de Nyert sale, Paris, 30 March 1772) by the engraver and dealer Robert Strange; Robert Strange sale, Christie’s, 5–6 March 1773 (lot 113, £650 to Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th baronet of Wynnstay, near Wrexham, and 20 St James’s Square, London); presumably the painting recorded in 1885 in the Green Drawing Room, Wynnstay, as ‘Large Oil Painting in Gilt Frame Landscape with figures by Poussin’; by descent to Sir H.L. Watkin Williams-Wynn, 8th baronet at Wynnstay (where seen by E.K. Waterhouse in 1939), from whom purchased (through Horace Buttery) in 1947 for £6500.
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.
Bibliography
-
1702F. Le Comte, Cabinet des singularitez d'architecture, peinture, sculpture, et graveure, 2nd edn, Brussels 1702
-
1725A. Félibien, Entretiens sur les vies et sur les ouvrages des plus excellens peintres, Trévoux 1725
-
1730A. de Monville, La vie de Pierre Mignard, premier peintre du roy, par M. l'abbé de Monville, avec le poëme de Moliere sur les peintures du Val-de-Grace. et deux dialogues de M. de Fenelon, Paris 1730
-
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
-
1914O. Grautoff, Nicolas Poussin: Sein Werk und sein Leben, Munich 1914
-
1939E.K. Waterhouse, 'Nicolas Poussin's Landscape with a Snake', The Burlington Magazine, LXXIV, 1939
-
1944A. Blunt, 'The Heroic and the Ideal Landscape of Nicolas Poussin', Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, VII, 1944, pp. 154-68
-
1949F.J.B. Watson, 'A New Poussin for the National Gallery', The Burlington Magazine, XCI/550, 1949, pp. 14-8
-
1952G. de Tervarent, 'Le véritable sujet du paysage au serpent de Poussin à la National Gallery de Londres', Gazette des beaux-arts, II, 1952, pp. 343-50
-
1954F.S. Licht, Die Entwicklung der Landschaft in den werken von Nicolas Poussin, Basel 1954
-
1955The National Gallery, The National Gallery: 1938 - 1954, London 1955
-
1957Martin Davies, National Gallery Catalogues: French School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1957
-
1960J. Shearman, 'Les dessins de paysages de Poussin', in A. Chastel (ed.), Nicolas Poussin: Actes du Colloque, Paris 1960, vol. 1, pp. 184ff
-
1964C. Dempsey, Nicolas Poussin and the Natural Order, Ann Arbor 1964
-
1966A. Blunt, The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: A Critical Catalogue, London 1966
-
1967L. Glózer, 'Archemoros oder der Tod des Opheltes. Zu Poussins "Landschaft mit der Schlange"', in Kunstgeschichtliche Studien für Kurt Bauch: Zum 70: Geburtstag von seinen Schülern, Munich 1967, pp. 211-2
-
1969K. Badt, Die Kunst des Nicolas Poussin, Cologne 1969
-
1974W. Stein, Künstler und Werke, Bern 1974
-
1980D. Wild, Nicolas Poussin: Band I, Leben, Werk, Exkurse, Band II, Katalog der Werke, Zürich 1980
-
1982H.D. Russell, Claude Lorrain 1600-1682 (exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 17 October 1982 - 2 February 1983), Washington 1982
-
1986R. Démoris, 'L'étrange affaire de l'homme au serpent: Poussin et le paysage', Cahiers de la litterature du XVIIe siècle, 8, 1986, pp. 197-218
-
1990M.R. Lagerlöf, Ideal Landscape: Annibale Carracci, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, New Haven 1990
-
1990A. Wintermute, Claude to Corot: The Development of Landscape Painting in France (exh. cat. P. & D. Colnaghi & Co. Ltd., 1 November - 15 December 1990), New York 1990
-
1992A. Grepmair-Müller, Landschaftskompositionen von Nicolas Poussin, Frankfurt am Main 1992
-
1994P. Rosenberg, Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665: Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Milan 1994
-
1994R. Verdi and P. Rosenberg, Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665 (exh. cat. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 27 September 1994 - 2 January 1995; Royal Academy of Arts, 19 January - 9 April 1995), Paris 1994
-
1995S. Conrad, 'Félibien's Sources for His Life of Poussin', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVII/1106, 1995, pp. 321-2
-
1995D. Mahon, 'The Written Sources for Poussin's Landscapes, with Special Reference to His Two Landscapes with Diogenes', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVII/1104, 1995, pp. 176-82
-
1996E. Cropper and C. Dempsey, Nicholas Poussin: Friendship and the Love of Painting, Princeton 1996
-
1996S. McTighe, Nicolas Poussin's Landscape Allegories, Cambridge 1996
-
1996E. Mai, Das Capriccio als Kunstprinzip: Zur Vorgeschichte der Moderne von Arcimboldo und Callot bis Tiepolo und Goya (exh. cat. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, 8 December 1996 - 16 February 1997; Kunsthaus, 14 March - 1 June 1997; Kunsthistorisches, 29 June - 21 September 1997), Milan 1996
-
1998H. Keazor, Poussins Parerga. Quellen, Entwicklung und Bedeutung der Kleinkompositionen in den Gemiilden Nicolas Poussins, Regensburg 1998
-
1998M. Bull, 'Poussin and Nonnos', The Burlington Magazine, CXL/1148, 1998, pp. 724-38
-
1999L. Marin, Sublime Poussin, trans. C. Porter, Stanford 1999
-
1999C. Stefani, 'Poussin, Lorrain, Dughet e Salvator Rosa: Ricezione e fortuna del paesaggio classico tra Sette e Ottocento', Studi di storia dell'arte, X, 1999, pp. 201-30
-
1999N. Saint, 'Pour l'amour d'un plaisir sévère: Following Louis Marin', in M. Heusser et al. (eds), Text and Visuality: Word and Image Interactions, Amsterdam 1999, vol. 3, pp. 65-75
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2001Wine, Humphrey, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth Century French Paintings, London 2001
-
2003C. Pace, 'Collecting French Seventeenth-Century Paintings for the Nation', Art History, XXVI/2, 2003, pp. 281-315
-
2004S. Barker, 'Poussin, Plague, and Early Medicine', Art Bulletin, LXXXVI/4, 2004, pp. 659-89
-
2006T.J. Clark, The Sight of Death: An Experiment in Art Writing, New Haven 2006
-
2006P. Manoury, 'Poussin philosophe', Dix-huitième siècle, 38, 2006, pp. 611-27
-
2007P. Rosenberg and K. Christiansen, Poussin and Nature: Arcadian Visions (exh. cat. Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao, 8 October 2007 - 13 January 2008; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 12 February - 11 May 2008), Bilbao 2007
-
2008W. Sauerländer, 'Paysages de Poussin: Les limites de l'interprétation iconologique', Studiolo, 6, 2008, pp. 191-232
Frame
This eighteenth-century French carved and gilded frame is designed in the late Louis XIV style. Crafted from oak wood, the frame has a pinewood back edge featuring carved dentils. The top of the frame is adorned with a plain, half-round rail, leading to cartouches decorated with shell-and-palmette motifs. Between these cartouches, C-scrolls with palmettes are positioned, facing both inwards and outwards. Following the sanded flat is a sight edge embellished with French acanthus leaves. The current gilding is a second layer, probably applied during alterations to the frame, which has obscured the engraved lines originally made by the ‘répareur’.
Nicolas Poussin himself did not favour such elaborate French period frames; he preferred simple, matt-gilded mouldings.
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
More works by Nicolas Poussin
(Showing 6 of 16 works)
In this wild party, men and women dance around a term – a carved bust of a bearded and horned man. This is traditionally identified as Pan, god of woods and fields, flocks and herds, although the statue could also be Priapus, god of gardens and fertility, who wears floral garlands and exposes his...
Aurora, goddess of dawn, is in love with the mortal Cephalus and tries to seduce him. Cephalus, dressed here in blue, turns away from Aurora, rejecting her advances. He gazes towards a portrait of his wife, Procris, held by a winged cupid. Later, when Cephalus and Procris are reunited, they each...
In the late 1630s, Poussin painted one of the summits of his art: the first series of Seven Sacraments. Commissioned by his friend and patron Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588–1657), Poussin depicted the seven rites of the Catholic Church: Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination an...
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...
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...
Not on display
A country track leads from the left foreground between two outcrops of tree-covered rocks, around a limpid pool and towards the distant mountains. In the foreground a man wearing a classical tunic rests by the side of the track. He looks towards a second man in the middle distance, who ties his s...
In the late 1630s, Poussin painted one of the summits of his art: the first series of Seven Sacraments. Commissioned by his friend and patron Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588–1657), Poussin depicted the seven rites of the Catholic Church: Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination an...
A beautiful nymph lying in the foreground seems to be asleep, although she may be enjoying a moment of solitary ecstasy. Beside her a golden-haired child watches as a satyr – a man with a goat’s ears, horns and legs – gently removes her delicate white robe. Another satyr peeps out from behind a t...
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...
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...
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...
Not on display
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...
On display elsewhere
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....
In this chaotic woodland party, men and women dance, drink, play music and behave badly. They gather around a statue of a red-faced satyr with horns, which may represent Pan, god of shepherds and herdsmen, or Priapus, god of gardens. Both deities are linked to the mischievous god of wine, Bacchus...
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...
After Nicolas Poussin (?)
The Virgin’s cousin Saint Elizabeth kneels to present the infant Saint John the Baptist to the Christ Child, who is held by his mother. With its warm colours, golden light and sweet interaction between two infants, this intimate scene is very touching. Saint Joseph leans on what looks like a long...
Not on display
You've viewed 6 of 16 works