Description
Although French by birth and training, Nicolas Poussin spent most of his career in Rome, immersed in the study of ancient art, where he painted classically inspired works for an educated elite. His art has long been considered the embodiment of the ideals of seventeenth-century classicism. In this painting, Saint John, one of the four Evangelists who wrote the Gospels of the New Testament, reclines beside his attribute, the eagle. He is here depicted as a powerful old man, presumably after retiring to the Greek island of Patmos to write his gospel and the book of Revelation at the end of his life. To suggest the vanished glory of the ancient world, Poussin carefully constructed an idealized setting for the saint, complete with an obelisk, a temple, and column fragments. Man-made and natural forms were adjusted according to principles of geometry and logic to convey the measured order of the scene. Even the profile view of Saint John is in harmony with the classical landscape. This painting may have been part of a projected series on the four Evangelists—in addition to this work, Poussin completed a companion, Landscape with Saint Matthew (1640; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin).
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.
