Nicolas Poussin

Baroque

Poussin Paintings 1594 - 1665 France, Painter of the Baroque

The Triumph of Neptune , 1634

Oil on canvas

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

Mythological Art

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OIL PAINTING: The Triumph of Neptune , 1634
      The lightness of tone is seen in the Triumph of Neptune by poussin in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a picture almost certainly painted for Richelieu and probably rather earlier than the three large Bacchanals for the chateau. The composition of the Triumph of Neptune is derived from Raphael's fresco in the Villa Farnese, but the result is unfortunately a little pedantic; when looking too closely at other art, Poussin forgot to relax and somehow stopped letting his own special intensity dominate. The result is light-hearted and decorative, and its subject has been interpreted in many different ways.
      The mythological story depicted in The Triumph of Neptune is the following.
      Amphitrite fled from Neptune's wooing, but he sent dolphins after her which succeeded in persuading her to return to become his bride. She rides beside his chariot on a dolphin's back, an arch of drapery billows over her head, a common feature of sea-goddesses from antiquity. They are surrounded by a retinue of Tritons (the name for mermen in general) and Nereids (sea-nymphs, the daughters of Nereus, the 'old man of the sea' in Greek mythology).
      The Triumph of Neptune by Poussin was probably painted for Cardinal Richelieu. It has been subject to widely differing interpretations.