Nicolas Poussin, Winter (the Deluge) (1660-64) (Canvas, 117 x 160 cm). Musée du Louvre, Paris. Inspired by the story of the flood, as narrated in Genesis, in which God punished mankind for its sin, this is the final painting in a series of four depicting the seasons. The paintings were commissioned by the Duc de Richelieu, the nephew of Cardinal Richlieu and it is likely that they were begun in 1660 and completed in 1664. As such they are among his last major works. Christopher Wright observes that the paintings are 'entirely free of pedantry and the dryness which dominates almost all of the pictures of the previous fifteen years' ( Wright, Catalogue Raisonné;, p.235). Ruskin disliked the painting and commented on it in Modern Painters II, IV and V. In Modern Painters IV, for example, Ruskin notes that:
there have been few pictures more praised for their sublimity than the "Deluge" of Nicholas Poussin of which, nevertheless, the sublimity, such as it is, consists wholly in the painting of everything grey and brown,-not the grey and brown of great painters, full of mysterious and unconfessed colours, dim blue, and shadowy purple, and veiled gold,-but the stony grey and dismal brown of the conventionalist. ( Works, 6.297-8)
He also condemns the painter as guilty of searching for a 'false sublimity' in the picture ( Works, 6.299).
Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665
Winter (The Deluge) c.1660-4
Oil on canvas, 118x160cm
Exhibitions: Paris, 1960 (118)
Further Comments: This painting is one of four, it is one of the 'Seasons'; it's theme is taken from Genesis and the Great Flood, where all is drowned except Noah, his ark and all inside it.
Collection: Louvre, Paris
For a reproduction of this artistic work, please consult: Wright, Christopher, Poussin: Paintings, (Harlequin Books Ltd, 1985), p.123 or alternatively www.abcgallery.com/P/poussin/poussin108.html