Nicholas Poussin 

by Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe

Monday 15th November 2021

Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) is possibly the most intellectually austere of all the great Master painters – the JS Bach of the painting world. This can make his work at first sight appear cold and, certainly, much more difficult to respond to than the more straightforward images of Caravaggio or Claude Lorrain, but his work is full of grace, of colour, and of absolute perfection in composition. Above all it is an intense response to his fascination with the world of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. This lecture will show how Poussin’s work can be understood through his reimaginings of the Ancient World, and in particular what he and his contemporaries understood as the music making and dance of a lost Arcadia.

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The National Gallery's exhibition, Poussin and the Dance, runs until 2nd January 2022.

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Chantal Brotherton-Ratcliffe has become a regular guest to London Art and More, both in real life and virtually. She has an MA in History of Art from Edinburgh, and a PhD from the Warburg Institute, London University. With 40 years' experience as a lecturer, Chantal has taught at Sotheby's Institute of Art on the MA in Fine and Decorative Arts since 1989, and as a freelance lecturer for a number of societies in London, Italy and America. Having also trained as a paintings conservator, she brings an understanding of the making and the physical painting to her lectures.