Extreme Unction (recto)

1641

An avalanche of royal commissions

In Paris he was swamped with commissions: “The Institution of the Eucharist” for the chapel of the château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, “The Miracle of St Francis Xavier” for the Jesuit novitiate, ceilings and vaults for the Grande Galerie of the Louvre, an allegory for Richelieu’s study, designs for tapestries and title pages for the royal printing house. For a man accustomed to working slowly and carefully it was too much.

1641–1642

Vouet’s partisans reproach his Christ with resembling Jupiter

The partisans of Simon Vouet, Poussin’s old friend, also criticised his Christ in the sky in “The Miracle of St Francis Xavier”: too much pride, resembling Jupiter more than a God of Mercy. Poussin answered that he could not and should not imagine a Christ looking like a gentle father — when he was on earth among men, it was difficult to look him in the face.

1641–1665

Post: Premier peintre du Roi

autumn 1642

Finds a pretext and leaves for Rome for good

Increasingly unhappy with court intrigue and the weight of commissions, in the autumn of 1642, while the king and court were in Languedoc, Poussin found a pretext to leave Paris and returned to Rome permanently.

1642–1644

Richelieu, Louis XIII and Urban VIII pass away

Richelieu died in 1642, Louis XIII in 1643 and Pope Urban VIII in 1644; his successor Innocent X was less interested in art patronage and preferred Spanish culture, and the Barberini left for France. But Richelieu’s successor, Cardinal Mazarin, began to collect Poussin’s works.

1643

Chantelou comes to Rome and commissions masterpieces

Paul Fréart de Chantelou came to Rome in 1643 and stayed several months; he commissioned from Poussin some of his most important works, including the second series of “The Seven Sacraments” and “Landscape with Diogenes”.