Poussin Landscape Painting Analysis

Landscape appeared as background of the artworks and the monuments in ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and ancient Rome. With the continuously improve and enhance of painting materials and techniques, landscape as background has also been portrayed more natural and vivid. Humanist thought has been widely accepted from Renaissance, people's minds was liberated, the changing of society offered the possibility for the independent development of landscape painting. Giorgione (c. 1477/78) of the Venetian school was considered as the first painter to make landscape painting towards independence. From his painting The Tempest(1506-1508) , landscape has become the main body of the painting and the characters became almost a supporting role. His contemporaries,

Poussin had archaeological spirit and emotion of nostalgia, he had lived in Italy for a long time and admired the achievements of the ancients and adhering Raphael and other Renaissance masters. Poussin used mythical, historical and religious story as most of his themes, his artworks has rigorous composition, the atmosphere quiet, idyllic rich lyrical flavor. Roman Landscape with Saint Matthew and the Angel is one of them. St. Matthew is sitting the ruins by the Tiber River and accepting the gospel from angel. the figures in the foreground takes a very small part in the painting, the other part of the painting shows the peaceful, beautiful rural scenery. Saint Matthew and the Angel have calm demeanor and elegant movements, together with scattered pillars of the side and sloping shoreline to compose the foreground of the picture. The viewers' sight start from the figures that extend from behind, raised, with the bend of the river, the distant city, and eventually disappear. The same with the other work of Poussin, the painter painted big, dark pieces of the trees shade to both sides of the screen, leave a broad space of the middle. In the foreground, the characters, the pillars, and Tiber River in the middle are solid. Though the riverbed is curve but it looks as static as glass, trees are quiet as no wind among them. The outlines of the figures and trees are non-transparent. Tiber Saint

He combined all these elements with his own characteristics and developed to form his own style. In general, Rubens's appropriate handling of sketches relationship, and the manner he adopted of light and shade give a strong sense of volume in his landscape paintings; brilliant colors, flow composition and full structure make his landscape paintings full of magical visual effects; arc and swirling "Baroque" Rhythm which all-encompassing display eternal change. Rubens's aroque world, is a beautiful, boast, full of flesh world representative of the imperial power. Yet, Poussin considered Rationality above all else, He admired humans and nature, rather than the king. Poussin balanced the Baroque and Classicism, his landscape painting are serene, noble, and have a sense of order, to depict Idealized landscape painting and eventually developed classical