Editing Nicolas Poussin (section)

=== Early years – Les Andelys and Paris ===
Nicolas Poussin's early biographer was his friend [[Giovanni Pietro Bellori]],<ref>His ''Lives of the Painters'' was published in Rome, 1672.</ref> who relates that Poussin was born near [[Les Andelys]] in [[Normandy]] and that he received an education that included some Latin, which would stand him in good stead. Another early friend and biographer, [[André Félibien]], reported that "He was busy without cease filling his sketchbooks with an infinite number of different figures which only his imagination could produce."<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini, p. 14">{{harvnb|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|p=14}}</ref> His early sketches attracted the notice of [[Quentin Varin]], who passed some time in Andelys, but there is no mention by his biographers that he had a formal training in Varin's studio, though his later works showed the influence of Varin, particularly by their storytelling, accuracy of facial expression, finely painted drapery and rich colors.{{sfn|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|p=15}} His parents apparently opposed a painting career for him, and In or around 1612, at the age of eighteen, he ran away to Paris.<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini, p. 14"/>

He arrived in Paris during the regency of [[Marie de' Medici]], when art was flourishing as a result of the royal commissions given by Marie de' Medici for the decoration of her [[Luxembourg Palace|palace]], and by the rise of wealthy Paris merchants who bought art. There was also a substantial market for paintings in the redecoration of churches outside Paris destroyed during the [[French Wars of Religion]], which had recently ended, and for the numerous convents in Paris and other cities. However, Poussin was not a member of the powerful guild of master painters and sculptors, which had a monopoly on most art commissions and brought lawsuits against outsiders like Poussin who tried to break into the profession.<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini, p. 16">{{harvnb|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|p=16}}</ref>

His early sketches gained him a place in the studios of established painters. He worked for three months in the studio of the [[Flanders|Flemish]] painter [[Ferdinand Elle]], who painted almost exclusively portraits, a genre that was of little interest to Poussin.<ref name="Keazor_12">{{harvnb|Keazor|2007|p=12}}</ref> Afterward, he is thought to have studied for one month in the studio of [[Georges Lallemand]], but Lallemand's inattention to precise drawing and the articulation of his figures apparently displeased Poussin.<ref name="Keazor_12"/> Moreover, Poussin did not fit well into the studio system, in which several painters worked on the same painting. Thereafter he preferred to work very slowly and alone.<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini, p. 16"/> Little is known of his life in Paris at this time. Court records show that he ran up considerable debts, which he was unable to pay. He studied anatomy and perspective, but the most important event of his first residence in Paris was his discovery of the royal art collections, thanks to his friendship with Alexandre Courtois, the ''valet de chambre'' of Marie de' Medici. There he saw for the first time engravings of the works of [[Giulio Romano (painter)|Giulio Romano]] and especially of [[Raphael]], whose work had an enormous influence on his future style.{{sfn|Thompson|1992|p=7}}

He first tried to travel to Rome in 1617 or 1618, but made it only as far as [[Florence]], where, as his biographer Bellori reported, "as a result of some sort of accident, he returned to France."{{sfn|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|p=17}}{{sfn|Wright|1985|p=250}} On his return, he began making paintings for Paris churches and convents. In 1622 made another attempt to go to Rome, but went only as far as [[Lyon]] before returning. In the summer of the same year, he received his first important commission: the Order of [[Jesuits]] requested a series of six large paintings to honor the canonization of their founder, Saint [[Francis Xavier]]. The originality and energy of these paintings (since lost) brought him a series of important commissions.{{sfn|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|p=18}}

[[Giambattista Marino]], the court poet to Marie de' Medici, employed him to make a series of fifteen drawings, eleven illustrating [[Metamorphoses (poem)|Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'']]<ref name="Brigstocke">{{harvnb|Brigstocke}}</ref> and four illustrating battle scenes from Roman history. The "Marino drawings", now at [[Windsor Castle]], are among the earliest identifiable works of Poussin.{{sfn|Chilvers|2009|p=496}} Marino's influence led to a commission for some decoration of Marie de' Medici's residence, the [[Luxembourg Palace]], then a commission from the first Archbishop of Paris, [[Jean-François de Gondi]], for a painting of the death of the Virgin (since lost) for the Archbishop's family chapel at the Cathedral of [[Notre-Dame de Paris]]. Marino took him into his household, and, when he returned to Rome in 1623, invited Poussin to join him. Poussin remained in Paris to finish his earlier commissions, then arrived to Rome in the spring of 1624.{{sfn|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|pp=20–22}}