Landscape with Saint John on Patmos
Nicolas Poussin·1640
Historical Context
Nicolas Poussin's Landscape with Saint John on Patmos (1640) is a supreme example of classical landscape, depicting the Evangelist writing the Book of Revelation amid ancient Roman ruins on the Greek island. Poussin, the greatest French painter of the seventeenth century and the intellectual leader of Roman classicism, conceived landscape as a moral and philosophical medium, not merely a scenic backdrop. The ruins of antiquity — a broken column, a crumbled temple — represent the inevitable decay of worldly power against which John's revelatory vision stands in eternal contrast. The painting's mathematical serenity of composition, with every element precisely weighted, embodies the classical ideal of reason governing emotion that defined Poussin's entire aesthetic.
Technical Analysis
Poussin's oil on canvas demonstrates his rigorous compositional geometry with carefully balanced masses of architecture, trees, and sky, using a restrained palette of earth tones and blues to create a landscape of timeless classical harmony.
Provenance
Commissioned by abate Gian Maria Roscioli (died 1644), Rome, and paid for, with its pendant (Landscape with Saint Mathew, now Berlin, Gemäldegalerie) on October 28, 1640 for 40 écus [documents published by Barroero 1979 and Corradini 1979). Probably in a French collection by 1680 [when engraved by Louis de Châtillon, c. 1680]. François-Antoine Robit, Paris, sold Paillet and Delaroche, Paris, May 11 and following, 1801, no. 91, to Naudou acting for Michael Bryan, for Fr 7,100 [see Edwards 1996, pp. 299, 304]; sold by Bryan, probably shortly thereafter, to Sir Simon Clarke, Bt (died 1832), Oakhill, Hertfordshire, for 1,000 gns. [see Buchanan 1824; with George Hibbert, Clarke had provided financial support for Bryan’s purchases at the Robit sale]; sold Christie’s, London, May 8-9, 1840, no. 39, to Geddes for 86 gns. [price and buyer in annotated catalogue at the Frick Art Reference Library]; Andrew Geddes, A.R.A. (died 1844), London; by descent to his widow, Adela Plimer Geddes (died 1881), offered for sale, Christie’s, London, April 12, 1845, no. 651, bought in; offered for sale, Christie’s, London, November 30, 1867, no. 56, bought in [annotated catalogue from Christie’s archive, copy in curatorial file]. Acquired on the London art market by Max Rothschild, 1918 [according to Blunt 1966; in London 1960 Blunt stated that Rothschild acquired the picture in 1928]. Possibly identical with the picture that was sold at Christie’s, London, December 16, 1927, no. 86, to Leger for £21[see Art Prices Current, n.s. 7 London, 1928, p. 105, the dimensions given as 40 x 52 1/2 inches; see also Posse 1930]. E. A. Fleischmann Gallery, Munich, by 1930; sold to the Art Institute, 1930.
