Poussin

by Anthony Blunt

Blunt recreates the entire intellectual world of an artist called 'the philosopher-painter', whose paintings still rank as some of the richest and most emotionally charged in Western art. Far more than an art historical monograph, Blunt's book is a monument to the intense relationship of two acute and passionate minds across the centuries.

Genres: Art, Biography

687 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 1997

About the author

Known as Sir Anthony Blunt, KCVO, from 1956 to 1979, was a leading British art historian who in 1964, after being offered immunity from prosecution, confessed to having been a Soviet spy. A closely held secret for many years, his status was revealed publicly by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in November 1979, and he was stripped of his knighthood immediately thereafter.
Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, and Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures. He was exposed as a member of the Cambridge Five, a group of spies working for the Soviet Union from some time in the 1930s to at least the early 1950s.

Reviews

[Marcin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could we forget who the author was just for a second? He was who he was. He was caught and his actions met the consequences which were found suitable and adequate by the Crown Prosecutor and the Crown itself. Could we focus instead on what he actually achieved in "Poussin"? And gosh, he achieved a lot!!! This is not just a monograph about Nicolas Poussin and his time. The painter's work is very strongly rooted in the historical and social context. Blunt writes a lot about the social and civilization changes that Poussin could have witnessed, he devotes a lot of space to intellectual and artistic currents that sowed ferment in Europe at that time and perhaps influenced the theme that Poussin chose as the subject of his canvases. The key word here is "perhaps". Blunt doesn't add or create an alternative story. He plays open cards with the reader. Where the sources are silent, he is silent either. Where sources are affected by discrepancies, Blunt cautiously presents all the pros and cons of each concept. Devoting a lot of space to discussing Poussin's work, Blunt extensively discusses the subject of canvases, characteristic and most frequently appearing motifs, and finally those from the achievements of whose Poussin drew and who were the source of artistic inspiration for the Frenchman. The advantage of Blunt's monograph is also its accessible language. It can be seen as an example of how to write about art, so that the hermetic, academic language does not reject the reader unfamiliar with professional vocabulary. Let's not be blunt about Blunt: he cannot be denied writing talent, and "Poussin" is a wonderful work.

[Peter Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite Anthony Blunt’s fall from grace for spying for the Russians (or as they were then ‘Soviets’) and changing trends in art history criticism (all thoroughly covered if you ask ChatGPT to do so) this is a work of scholarship that even after almost 60 years (1967, my paperback edition 1995) that contributes so much to the study of Nicholas Poussin, his influences and the themes and ideas he worked with over his long life - particularly the influence of the stoics, that it cannot be ignored or merely assigned to the no longer relevant shelf. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on ‘Landscape’, and he’s also very good on Poussin’s use of snakes, amongst of course many other issues.

Miranda Carter in her book ‘Anthony Blunt: his lives’ (2001) quotes Neil MacGregor’s view:

“Blunt’s book on Poussin has a huge number of questions it fails to address. It’s a difficult book, but the poetic achievement is so high you feel you’re in a world that is completely coherent, which is why it will live as one of the great art-history books. Poussin is the intellectual who is on good terms with the court and academic world, and can map and navigate these waters, but nonetheless chooses to live slightly on the sidelines and on his own terms. Blunt could write that without anyone imagining that it was autobiographical – nobody else at the time would have thought of him in those terms.”

The book is packed with illustrations, primarily black and white: 271 throughout the text, 254 plates many being details at the end of the volume, and 12 colour plates - unfortunately a study of his work is about the details, so essential to following Poussin’s narratives, and the size and the black and white illustrations are neither clear or large enough, often being 2 to a page. For this reason I have a slight preference for my digital copy over my paperback copy as I can magnify the prints though distortion occurs quickly. For better reproductions see Richard Verdi’s (a former student of Blunt’s) ‘Poussin as a painter: from Classicism to Abstraction’ (2020) and in particular Margaretha Rossholm Lagerlöf’s ‘Ideal landscape, Annibale Carracci, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain’ (1990) for some stunning details in separate large colour plates.

Other textual apparatus, indexing, bibliography, list of paintings by location are thorough. Despite my quibbles it’s still a work that needs to be read despite changes and refinements in studying Nicolas Poussin’s art.

[Max Volovik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Безупречная монография о живописце Пуссене, укдивительным боразом начавшему новую эпоху в живописки. Доскональное исследование социальено културного среза эпохи,