Nicolas Poussin, 'Landscape with Travellers Resting', about 1638-9
About the work
Overview
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 sandal. In the background, a third man walks along the track beside the water.
This is one of Poussin’s earliest landscapes, painted in the late 1630s. He based this scene on the countryside around Rome where he is known to have drawn landscape studies, but at this stage in his career he had limited experience of landscape painting. Here, he tentatively created an ideal landscape by building up contrasting areas of dark and light and by highlighting these areas with the three figures, trees and rocks that lead our eye into the distance.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Landscape with Travellers Resting
- Artist
- Nicolas Poussin
- Artist dates
- 1594 - 1665
- Date made
- about 1638-9
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 63 × 77.8 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1970
- Inventory number
- NG6391
- Location
- Room 29
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 17th-century French Frame
Provenance
Painted for Cassiano dal Pozzo and/or his younger brother, Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo; thence by descent to Giusepppe Boccapaduli (1729–1809); probably sold by him to the painter and dealer Gavin Hamilton (1723–98) in 1779; probably in the collection of William Wyndham, 1st Lord Grenville (1759–1834), Prime Minister 1806–7, at Dropmore House, Bucks; by descent to his widow, Anne Pitt (1773–1864), and then to the Hon. George Matthew Fortescue; in the sale of the Fortescue collection in 1939 as by Poussin (Dropmore House, Burnham, 27 February 1939, Farebrother, Ellis & Co., part lot 217); there bought by Tomas Harris, from whom bought by 1945 by Sir George Leon (1875–1947) of Warfield House, Bracknell; inherited by his widow, Dorothy, and sold(?) by her to R.F. Heathcoat-Amory; sold by his executors, Sotheby’s, 27 June 1962 (lot 88, £14,000 to Leggatt); bought by Mrs D.M. Allnatt of Doughty House, Richmond Hill; on loan to the National Gallery from 1962; bought from Mrs Allnatt’s executors in 1970 under an option contained in the loan agreement.
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
-
1945A. Blunt, 'Two Newly Discovered Landscapes by Nicolas Poussin', The Burlington Magazine, LXXXVII/509, 1945, pp. 184-6
-
1948T. Bertin-Mourot, 'Addenda au catalogue de Grautoff depuis 1914', Bulletin de la Société Poussin, II/31, 1948, pp. 8ff
-
1960F. Haskell and S. Rinehart, 'The Dal Pozzo Collection: Some New Evidence', The Burlington Magazine, CII/688, 1960, pp. 318-26
-
1960S. Rinehart, 'Poussin et la famille dal Pozzo', in A. Chastel (ed.), Nicolas Poussin: 13e colloque international du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, sciences humaines, Paris 1960, vol. 1, pp. 19-30
-
1961D. Mahon, 'Réflexions sur les paysages de Poussin', Art de France, I, 1961
-
1966A. Blunt, The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: A Critical Catalogue, London 1966
-
1971The National Gallery, The National Gallery: January 1969 - December 1970, London 1971
-
1973A. Brejon de Lavergnée, 'Tableaux de Poussin et d'autres artistes français dans la collection Dal Pozzo: Deux inventaires inédits', Revue de l'art, 1973, pp. 79-97
-
1980D. Wild, Nicolas Poussin: Band I, Leben, Werk, Exkurse, Band II, Katalog der Werke, Zürich 1980
-
1988T. Standring, 'Some Pictures by Poussin in the Dal Pozzo Collection: Three New Inventories', The Burlington Magazine, CXXX/1025, 1988, pp. 608-26
-
1990R. Verdi, Cézanne and Poussin: The Classical Vision of Landscape (exh. cat. Scottish National Gallery, 9 August - 21 October 1990), Edinburgh 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
-
1992D.L. Sparti, Le collezioni dal Pozzo: Storia di una famiglia e del suo museo nella Roma seicentesca, Modena 1992
-
1992H. Wine and O. Koester, Fransk Guldalder: Poussin and Claude and French Painting of the Seventeenth Century, (exh. cat. Statens Museum for Kunst, 29 February - 3 May 1992), Copenhagen 1992
-
1993D. Carrier, Poussin's Paintings: A Study in Art-Historical Methodology, Univerisity Park PA 1993
-
1994P. Rosenberg, Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665: Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Milan 1994
-
1996Y. Ishaghpour, Poussin, là où le lointain: Mythe et paysage, Paris 1996
-
1996F. Peretti and T. Standring, France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-Century French Paintings, (exh. cat. Walpole Gallery, 26 June - 31 July 1996), London 1996
-
2000M. Kitson, Studies on Claude and Poussin, London 2000
-
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
-
2005W. Sauerländer, 'Noch einmal Poussins Landschaften: Ein Versuch über Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der ikonologischen Interpretation', Münchner Jahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst, III/56, 2005, pp. 107-37
-
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
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 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 th...
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
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