Editing Nicolas Poussin (section)

=== First residence in Rome (1624–1640) ===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
File:Nicolas Poussin - La Mort de Germanicus.jpg|''Death of Germanicus'', 1628, [[Minneapolis Institute of Art]]
File:'Venus_and_Adonis',_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Nicolas_Poussin,_c._1628-29,_Kimbell_Art_Museum.jpg|''Venus and Adonis'', {{Circa|1628}}–1629, [[Kimbell Art Museum]]
File:Nicolas Poussin - L'Inspiration du poète (1629).jpg|''[[The Inspiration of the Poet]]'', 1629–30, [[Louvre]]
File:Nicolas Poussin - Le Martyre de Saint Érasme.jpg|''The Martyrdom of Saint Erasmus'' 1630, [[Vatican Museums]]
</gallery>
Poussin was thirty when he arrived in Rome in 1624. The new Pope, [[Urban VIII]], elected in 1623, was determined to maintain the position of Rome as the artistic capital of Europe, and artists from around the world gathered there. Poussin could visit the churches and convents to study the works of [[Raphael]] and other Renaissance painters, as well as the more recent works of [[Carracci]], [[Guido Reni]] and [[Caravaggio]] (whose work Poussin detested, saying that Caravaggio was born to destroy painting).<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini, p. 22">{{harvnb|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|p=22}}</ref> He studied the art of painting nudes at the Academy of [[Domenichino]], and frequented the [[Accademia di San Luca]], which brought together the leading painters in Rome, and whose head in 1624 was another French painter, [[Simon Vouet]], who offered lodging to Poussin.<ref>In a census of 1624 (Friedlaender)</ref>

Poussin became acquainted with other artists in Rome and tended to befriend those with classicizing artistic leanings: the French sculptor [[François Duquesnoy]] whom he lodged with in 1626 in via dei Maroniti;<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Sparti|first=Donatella Livia|title=La Maison de Nicolas Poussin via del Babuino a Rome in Actes di Colloque|year=1996|pages=47–69}}</ref> the French artist [[Jacques Stella]]; [[Claude Lorraine]]; Domenichino; [[Andrea Sacchi]]; and joined an informal academy of artists and patrons opposed to the current [[Baroque]] style that formed around [[Joachim von Sandrart]].<ref>[http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=721350&partId=1 The British Museum: Collection online]</ref> Rome also offered Poussin a flourishing art market and an introduction to an important number of art patrons. Through Marino, he was introduced to Cardinal [[Francesco Barberini (seniore)|Francesco Barberini]], the brother of the new Pope, and to [[Cassiano dal Pozzo]], the Cardinal's secretary and a passionate scholar of ancient Rome and Greece, who both later became his important patrons. The new art collectors demanded a different format of paintings; instead of large altarpieces and decoration for palaces, they wanted smaller-size religious paintings for private devotion or picturesque landscapes, mythological and history paintings.<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini, p. 22"/>

The early years of Poussin in Rome were difficult. His patron Marino departed Rome for Naples in May 1624, shortly after Poussin arrived, and died there in 1625. His other major sponsor, Cardinal Francesco Barberini, was named a papal legate to Spain and also departed soon afterwards, taking Cassiano dal Pozzo with him. Poussin became ill with [[syphilis]], but refused to go to the hospital, where the care was extremely poor, and he was unable to paint for months. He survived by selling the paintings he had for a few [[Roman scudo|scudi]]. Thanks to the assistance of a chef, Jacques Dughet, whose family took him in and cared for him, he largely recovered by 1629, and on 1 September 1630 he married Anne-Marie Dughet, the daughter of Dughet.<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini, p. 22"/><ref name=":0" /> His two brothers-in-law were artists, and [[Gaspard Dughet]] later took Poussin's surname.{{sfn|Blunt|1958|p=55}}

Cardinal Barberini and Cassiano dal Pozzo returned to Rome in 1626, and by their patronage Poussin received two major commissions. In 1627, Poussin painted ''[[The Death of Germanicus]]'' ([[Minneapolis Institute of Arts]]) for Cardinal Barberini. The painting's erudite use of ancient textual and visual sources (the ''[[Histories (Tacitus)|Histories]]'' of [[Tacitus]] and the Meleager sarcophagus), stoic restraint and pictorial clarity established Poussin's reputation as a major artist.<ref>The Meleager sarcophagus seen by Poussin is that now in the [[Capitoline Museums]].</ref>{{sfn|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|pp=28–29}} In 1628, he was living on the via Paolino (Babuino) with [[Jean Lemaire (painter)|Jean le Maire]].<ref name=":0" />

The success of the Germanicus led to an even more prestigious commission in 1628 for an altarpiece depicting the ''Martyrdom of St. Erasmus'', for the Erasmus Chapel in [[St. Peter's Basilica]] (now in the [[Vatican Museums|Vatican Pinacoteca]]). The [[Fabricca di San Pietro]] had originally awarded the commission to [[Pietro da Cortona]], who had produced only preliminary designs for the altarpiece when he was unexpectedly transferred to another project. Thanks to Cassiano dal Pozzo's influence, Poussin was chosen to paint the Saint Erasmus altarpiece, following Pietro da Cortona's original design.

With its plunging diagonal composition and high narrative drama, the ''Martyrdom of St. Erasmus'' is Poussin's most overtly "baroque" work.{{sfn|Blunt|1958|pp=55, 85–88}} Despite its adherence to the pictorial idiom of the day, for unknown reasons, the ''Martyrdom of St. Erasmus'' seems to have met with official displeasure and generated no further papal commissions.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Blunt|first=Anthony|title=Nicolas Poussin|publisher=Pantheon|year=1967|volume=1|location=New York|pages=85–99}}</ref> This disappointment, and the loss of a competition for a fresco cycle in [[San Luigi dei Francesi]], convinced Poussin abandon the pursuit of large-scale, public commissions and the burdensome competitions, content restrictions, and political machinations they entailed. Instead, Poussin would re-orient his art towards private collectors, for whom he could work more slowly, with increasing control over subject matter and style.

Along with Cardinal Barberini and Cassiano dal Pozzo, for whom he painted the first ''Seven Sacraments'' series, Poussin's early private patrons included the Chanoine Gian Maria Roscioli, who bought ''The Young Pyrrhus Saved'' and several other important works; Cardinal [[Pope Clement IX|Giulio Rospigliosi]], for whom he painted the second version of ''The Shepherds of Arcadia''; and Cardinal [[Innocent X|Luigi Omodei]], who received the ''Triumphs of Flora'' ({{circa|1630}}–32, [[Louvre]]). He painted the ''Massacre of the Innocents'' for the banker [[Vincenzo Giustiniani]]; the jewel thief and art swindler, Fabrizio Valguarnera, bought ''[[Plague of Ashdod (Poussin)|Plague of Ashdod]]'' and commissioned ''The Empire of Flora''. He also received his first French commissions from [[François de Créquy]], the French envoy to Italy, later, from [[Cardinal Richelieu]] for a series of ''Bacchanales''.<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini p. 30" />

Buoyed by this commercial success, Poussin bought a life interest in a small house on Via Paolina (Babuino) for his wife and himself in 1632 and entered his most productive period.<ref name="Rosenberg and Temperini p. 30">{{harvnb|Rosenberg|Temperini|1994|p=30}}</ref> His house was at the foot of Trinité des Monts, near the city gate, where other foreigners and artists lived; its exact location is not known but it was opposite the church of [[Sant'Atanasio]] dei Greci.<ref name=":0" />