Nicolas Poussin

Probably from an album of drawings offered for sale in 1678 by Jean Dughet;
possibly George Ramsay, 8^th Earl of Dalhousie (died 1787);
possibly his son, George Ramsay, 9^th Earl of Dalhousie (1770-1838), who married Christian, only child of Charles Broun of Colstoun;
their son, James Ramsay, 10^th Earl and 1^st Marquess of Dalhousie (1812-1860);
his eldest daughter, Lady Susan Broun Ramsay (died 1898);
by whom bequeathed to her great-niece, Edith Christian Baird, later Lady Broun Lindsay;
thence by descent to the present owner, her grandson

Some surface dirt; ink stains at bottom of page
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This is a rare and important addition to the very small existing corpus of Poussin drawings.  His admiration for classical antiquity is obvious, and he considered the past, which to him included not only Roman works but also those of Raphael and Giulio Romano, as the proper basis of study for artists.  Many of his own drawings after the antique are known, but curiously it has emerged that in many, if not most, cases they are actually copied after prints rather than from the originals, which he would have had the opportunity to study.  These drawings are generally thought to have been made after Poussin's return from Paris, around 1642-45.  He seems to have made the drawings for his own use, as Rosenberg writes: '...les dessins de Poussin constituèrent un garde-manger, un réservoir dans lesquels l'artiste puisa régulièrement pour tel détail des ses tableaux, pour telle idée de ses compositions.'¹  After his death, many were in the hands of his secretary, Jean Dughet, who offered an album of them for sale in 1678 with the following description: 'Un libro di disegni fatti da monsieur Poussin, cioe dal antico...per suo studio...' and with the suggestion that they could be engraved for the public good and for the use of French, Dutch and Flemish students.²  In spite of Dughet's description, it appears the album contained drawings by artists other than Poussin.  It is unclear when it was dismembered, but drawings from it can be recognized by the red chalk framing lines around them, as seen here.  Rosenberg has presented a close study of two collections of anonymous copies, the Album de Louviers and the Carnet de Rome, which seem to have been based on the Poussins in the Dughet album and which help towards an understanding of its contents.³

This beautiful drawing is characteristic of Poussin's style in its fine lines, the short-hand indication of faces, and the lively, effective use of brown wash.  It is his copy after the right side of plate 147 in the Galleria Giustiniani, the catalogue of Vincenzo Giustiniani's collection of antiquities (fig.1).  Poussin has slightly condensed the frieze at the bottom to include all the figures, and has saved himself time by not copying the parts of the right side of the print which are mirror images of the left. This drawing was copied on page 43 of the Album de Louviers, with other motifs, but does not appear in the Carnet de Rome.⁴  A drawing in the Courtauld Institute, catalogued as Poussin by Rosenberg and Prat, is a more complete copy after the Galleria Giustiniani print.⁵

1.  P. Rosenberg, 'Un ensemble de copies de dessins d'après l'Antique de Poussin,' Studiolo, no. 4, 2006, p. 136

2.  Idem., p. 134

3.  Idem., p. 129-166

4.  Idem., p. 139, reproduced p. 155

5.  P. Rosenberg and L.-A. Prat, Nicolas Poussin, Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Milan 1994, vol. 1, p. 456, no. 231