1620s
The Cavaliere Marino takes the painter under his wing
Poussin’s work caught the attention of the Italian poet Cavaliere Marino, then living in France; his patronage let the thirty-year-old painter work in peace. According to Bellori the poet took him into his house and helped him with the invention of subjects and the rendering of emotion, and in Marino’s house Poussin gained access to a library with treatises by Alberti and Dürer and manuscripts and drawings by Leonardo.
1626
Friends in Rome: Claude Lorrain, Stella, the Duquesnoy brothers
In 1626 Pierre Mellin and the brothers François and Jérôme Duquesnoy lodged in his studio; he was close to Claude Lorrain and kept company with Jacques Stella and Jean Lemaire. The circle was united by a pull towards classical antiquity; despite all his disagreements with French painters, it was this milieu that helped Poussin keep his national roots.
c. 1629
A grave illness: the Dughet family nurses Poussin
Around 1629 Poussin fell gravely ill and was nursed by the family of the French pastry-cook Dughet; on recovering he became engaged to the eldest daughter, Anne-Marie. The wedding in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina took place on 1 September 1630.
1630
Gives up monumental commissions
In 1630 the commission headed by Domenichino and d’Arpino gave the decoration of the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in San Luigi dei Francesi to the Lorrainer Charles Mellin, not to Poussin. After that he firmly renounced the monumental genre and turned to “cabinet painting” for private patrons.
9. August 1630
Married: Anne-Marie Dughet
1632
Elected to the Academy of St Luke
In 1632 Poussin was elected a member of the Academy of St Luke — two years after he had given up monumental commissions for cabinet painting.