2. The Holy Family, Leicester Art Gallery.

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05/12/2012

2. The Holy Family, Leicester Art Gallery.

The Holy Family with the Infant St John

Oil on Canvas, 97.5 x 73 cm.

LEICESTER , Museum and Art Gallery.

Provenance.

Gift from Mr C. Hedley Haddon, 1943.

According to the NICE record, this work was given to the museum at Leicester in recognition of efforts made during the war on behalf of the owner, whose collection was safely evacuated from his home. The Leicester painting is a much smaller version of the almost life-size Holy Family in the Ringling Museum at Sarasota. From Poussin’s correspondence we know that the Sarasota Holy Family was begun for “une personne grande,” probably the Duc de Créqui, who declined the offer of the picture. Though unfinished, the Sarasota painting was offered in August 1655 to Mme de Montmort, later Mme de Chantelou,who had asked for a Madonna. This offer was withdrawn in November 1655, and presumably went to the original commissioner, the Duc de Crequi? After the 17^th century, the Sarasota Holy Family is found in the collection of Sir Richard Worsley (1751-1808) where it passes by inheritance to the Earls of Yarborough; later sold at Christie’s, London 12/7/1929; and bought by Newton with Böhler; later sold by him to the Ringling Museum.

The Sarasota painting was engraved by Voet, and according to Blunt, a dedication by Jean Dughet to Jean Pointel (Poussin’s banker friend) led to the error of thinking that the large Holy Family was painted for Pointel. As Pointel was engaged in buying pictures for the Duc de Créqui in Rome, it has been suggested that “une personne grande” referred to the latter. A problem here, as Blunt points out, is that the inventory of the Duc de Créqui’s paintings contains two “Holy Families” by Poussin, but neither of them corresponds exactly to the Sarasota painting. One is the Holy Family at Harvard (Holy Family with St Elizabeth and St John the Baptist) , and the other might be a “Holy Family with adoring putti” which obviously doesn't match the Sarasota painting, or its Leicester variant.

Though there is no definite proof, we could accept that the illustrious client was Créqui, and that Poussin may have painted a smaller picture for Pointel as a gift, or for services rendered in securing him commissions, or maybe just out of friendship. According to the NICE report, Wright “and others judged it to be the original of a composition which was engraved by Voet, and dedicated to Pointel who may once have owned it.” However, Jacques Thuillier rejected the Leicester picture in his catalogue raisonné of 1974, and inexplicably the Leicester painting isn’t mentioned in Blunt’s 1966 CR despite it being known in the 1950s. As to the 17^th century owner of the Sarasota canvas, Blunt was content to leave the case open until further evidence came to light. The success of Wright’s attribution to Pointel rests partly on whether the provenance of the Sarasota picture can be traced to the Duc de Créqui who certainly had a connection with Pointel, according to Saint-Simon.

Related Works.

Original. SARASOTA, John and Mable Ringling Museum, 1655, oil on canvas, 193 x 128 cm.

Other Copies:

1) Meyer-Glitza collection, Hamburg, 108 x 80 cms. Inherited from Dr Adolf Glitza (1820-94). Sold Hauswedell, Hamburg, 27/11/65, lot. 28.

2) Church of Montmorency (Oise).

Engravings:

1) By Alexander Voet.

2) Published Malbouré.

Description and Theme

The Sarasota Holy Family corresponds to Poussin’s description of a picture he had begun for “une personage grande” mentioned above: large, consisting of four figures, showing St John in the act of begging Christ to give him his blessing. In the Louvre exhibition of 1960 Blunt said that these Holy Families were Poussin’s “last word on the theme.” He described them having an unperturbed sculptural quality, simplicity of modelling and eliminating picturesque detail. He also thought that these were traits consistent with the pictures of the aging master. The monumental quality of the Sarasota picture is noteworthy. Poussin never painted a more pensive Virgin who seems to be lost in reflection while Joseph standing at the rear, hand on chin, is deeply thoughtful. The mask-like quality of Joseph’s face seems appropriate to Kurt’s Badt’s point that this feature (linked with the 1648 Holy Family on the Steps) expresses a “higher universality.” Also, Gert Fischer’s idea that the mask-like faces of Poussin’s figures in religious paintings of the period 1648-50 “can be read as an expression of inherent divinity which is concealed yet palpably present” seems to fit these Holy Families of 1655. By contrast the children seem to suggest the human external world with their raised arms and animated gestures, which contrast with the frozen introspection of the adults.

Poussin’s motivation for painting on such a large canvas are unclear. According to Verdi, at least three Holy Families are painted on upright canvases, in the manner of Raphael and his followers. These are the Sarasota and Hermitage versions (see below) and possibly the Holy Family in the Temple, in the Museé Condé at Chantilly. Poussin here seems to be trying to measure up to Raphael, or overstepping him; if one were judging Holy Families on seriousness of mood, one could say he did. Friedlaender pointed out how different these vertical formats were from Poussin’s “oblong canvases” of a few years earlier, e.g. the Hermitage Holy Family in Egypt, painted for Mme de Montmort, later Mme de Chantelou, in 1648; or the Cleveland Holy Family on the Steps, also painted in 1648. Perhaps, as Friedlaender said, the large scale suited Poussin’s ideas on “planimetric conventions with [the] monumental style of the Maniera Magnifica”, as well as blending “religious introspection” with “stoic meditation.”

Though something of the sombre mood is retained in the Leicester variant, due to its reduced size, the effect on the spectator is different. Some of the architectural background like the right side of Virgin’s throne are lost; this allows the viewer to focus on the Holy Family alone, instead of their surroundings. These changes could support the idea that the Leicester canvas was painted with a different purpose, possibly as an intimate, devotional picture, or just a gift as suggested above- but still the problem remains of who owned it. There are a number of these Holy Families that are connected with a circle of French patrons, e.g. the Hermitage Holy Family (above) was owned by Chantelou who acquired it in June, 1655. Should the Leicester painting be placed within the network of French patrons who were both devout and of a “stoic” disposition? The seriousness of these Holy Families might reflect the philosophical nature of such patrons, though the present author thinks Verdi’s point about Poussin wanting to surpass Raphael’s treatment of the subject might be the more likely motivation for the grandeur of these Holy Families.

Technical Notes

The Leicester painting was originally rejected by Thuillier in 1974, but the museum says that “after cleaning in the early 1980s its quality became clear.” No more is known of the condition of this painting; perhaps Wright puts it in the context of the cleaning in his catalogue. It is worth quoting Wright’s words on the Sarasota Holy Family in his CR of 1981, though he doesn’t list copies or variants:

“It appears to be good enough for an authentic Poussin although there is always the problem of brushwork after about 1640. Copies are extremely difficult to detect owing to the dryness of Poussin’s handling. Recent opinion has in any case been in favour of the picture.”

Wright then cites the case of the Washington Holy Family on the Steps, now thought to be a copy after the original at Cleveland. “The only factor against the Washington picture is that it is curiously hard in handling which would imply that it was a good old copy. However, a word of warning- Poussin’s handling was becoming less and less personal at this stage and exact handling of painting is a dangerous contention if it alone can decide the issue between original and copy. Recent publications of the X-rays of the Cleveland version have now removed doubts as to its being a possible copy. The question now remains as to whether the Washington version was also painted by Poussin.” This last point obviously relates to Tony Green’s comment on the previous Christ Healing the Blind Men post about copies and autograph copies, an aspect of Poussin’s production which will be analysed on this blog another time.

Additional Remarks.

On the PCF site the Leicester picture is “attributed to Poussin” According to the NICE curatorial record, catalogued as “after Poussin,” in 1958. Mentioned by Wright in his Old Master Paintings in Britain of 1976. Subsequently catalogued in Wright’s Masterpieces of Reality: French 17th Century Painting, which needs to be checked to see what precise arguments were deployed to support the Leicester attribution. There is still the mystery of Blunt failing to mention an English variant of the Sarasota painting in his 1966 CR, despite the fact the picture was known to scholars in the late 1950s. Blunt may have missed it, or ignored it because he felt it unworthy of attention. The Leicester picture appeared on the Poussin radar with Thuillier considering it in 1974, and Wright proposing it as autograph in 1985 after cleaning. However, it is important to state that cleaning a picture that has copy status doesn’t automatically make it autograph. On the provenance front, placing the picture in Pointel’s collection doesn’t seem an unreasonable hypothesis, but more work needs to be done on Poussin’s network of clients in relation to these enigmatic Holy Families; also the issue of copies, including autograph copies, might elucidate the circumstances in which the Leicester variant appeared.

Catalogues

Anthony Blunt, Exposition Nicolas Poussin, (Museé du Louvre, 1960), no. 107. (Sarasota original)

Anthony Blunt, The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin: A Critical Catalogue, (London,1966), no. 51.(Sarasota original).

Jacques Thuillier, L'Opera completa di Nicolas Poussin, Milan 1974, cat. no. 196, pl. 196a. (Leicester variant).

Christopher Wright, Old Master Paintings in Britain: An Index of Continental Old Master Paintings Executed before c.1800 in Public Collections in the United Kingdom, London, 1976, p. 165. (Leicester variant)

Christopher Wright, Poussin Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonné, (London, 1984), no. 174. (Sarasota original).

Christopher Wright, Masterpieces of Reality: French 17th Century Painting, Leicester, 1985, cat. no. 26, p. 131, ill. p. 37, pl. 26 (Leicester variant).

Richard Verdi, Nicolas Poussin 1594-1665, (Royal Academy, London, 1995), pp. 294-295.

Various, Leicester Museum and Art Gallery: Collection of Paintings, (Leicester, 1958), cat. no. 337, as after Poussin (Leicester variant).

Other Literature.

Correspondance de Nicolas Poussin ed. Ch. Jouanny, (Paris, 1911), pp.436, 437f., 439, 441.

Kurt Badt, Die Kunst des Nicolas Poussin (Cologne, 1969), 24-5 and 420f.

Anthony Blunt, Poussin Studies IV: Two Rediscovered Late Works, the Burlington Magazine, Vol 92, No. 563, (Feb 1950), pp. 38-52.

Anthony Blunt, Nicolas Poussin, (London, 1995), pp. 238-239.

Walter Friedlaender, Nicolas Poussin: A New Approach, (London, 1970), p. 68.

Gert Fischer, “Presence of divinity: Poussin’s conception of figures and the depiction of mythical nature,” in Presence: The Inherence of the Prototype within Images and Other Objects, ed. Rupert Shepherd, (London, 2006), pp. 121-134.

Angela Smith, NICE curatorial record.

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