- 118
Follower of Nicolas Poussin, circa 1700
Description
- Nicolas Poussin
- "Penance", One of the Seven Sacraments
- oil on canvas
Provenance
With Tobias Fisher, New York, from whom purchased by the present collector on July 21, 1961.
Literature
J. Thuillier, "The Greatest French Painter Reconsidered", in Art News Annual, vol. XXX, 1965, pp. 41-63;
A. Blunt, Nicolas Poussin, London 1966, catalogue volume, p. 75, under cat. no. 108;
A. Blunt, Nicolas Poussin, Washington D.C. 1967, reproduced figure 132 (as a copy after Poussin);
J. von Henneberg, "Poussin's Penence a New Reading", in Storia del Arte, vol. no. 61, 1987, p. 23 passim, reproduced figure 3.
P. Rosenberg and L.A. Prat, Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, September 1994-January 1995, p. 245, under no. 65 (as a copy);
R. Verdi, Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, exhibition catalogue, London, Royal Academy of Arts, January 19- April 9, 1995, p. 223, illus., fig. 101.
Catalogue Note
This painting repeats the composition of a painting from one of Poussin's most famous commissions, the first series of Sacraments painted for Cassiano del Pozzo. The entire group was eventually acquired by the Duke of Rutland. The Sacrament of Penance, however, was destroyed in a fire at Belvoir Castle in 1816. The present canvas, therefore, is an early and rare copy of the picture, almost certainly painted before it left Rome in 1785; it is therefore a significant surviving document of Poussin's original.
It has been suggested that the present work may be by Francesco Ferdinandi, called Imperiali.