For the first time, Met audiences will be able to admire Nicolas Poussin’s Christ in the Garden of Olives, only the second authenticated oil on copper by the 17th-century French painter, thanks to the donation of Jon and Barbara Landau.
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On January 20, 2022, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) announced that it was expanding its collection of paintings by Nicholas Poussin (1594-1665) thanks to the gift of Jon and Barbara Landau from Christ in the Garden of Olives (1626-1627), painted in Rome. Rare authenticated anonymous oil on copper by the artist from the 17th century, it is now visible in gallery 621 and accessible to the general public for the first time since its creation and purchase by Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo, antique dealer and collector who owned the finest collection of works by Poussin in Rome.
Poussin’s largest museum collection outside of Europe
There are seven paintings by the artist in the Met’s collection of European paintings. The New York institution is today the museum with the largest number of works by Poussin outside of Europe, including great masterpieces such as The Abduction of the Sabines (1638) or even Blind Orion searching for the rising sun (1658).
Nicholas Poussin, Landscape with Blind Orion Seeking the Sun, 1658, oil on canvas, 119.1 cm x 182.9 cm, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art ©️Wikimedia
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The director of Met, Max Hollein, explains that there is a special link between the painter and the museum. The painting Midas at the source of the Pactolus River, was one of the first works acquired by the institution when it opened in 1871. Oil on canvas from 1624, its gold tones echo the myth of King Midas who wished he could turn everything he touched into gold before surrendering. realized that this power deprived him of drinking and manger. The scene represents the god Bacchus’ proposal to bathe in the Pactolus River to end the spell.
From mythology to a biblical scene
When creating the Christ in the Garden of Olives, in the years 1625-1630, Poussin arrived in Rome, still young and barely trained. Its popularity and art are growing in this city. He is protected there by many powerful people, French and Italian who, in particular, commission paintings from him. A scholarly painter, fascinated by Greek and Roman Antiquities, he mainly depicts classical scenes with great precision in form and color.
Nicholas Poussin, The Agony in the Garden of Olives, 1626–27, oil on copper, private collection, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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For the Christ in the Garden of Olives, Nicolas Poussin abandons the mythology Greek for a biblical scene. One of the three episodes of the Passion, it corresponds to the premonitory dream of Jesus before his crucifixion on the Mount of Olives while the disciples at his side are dreaming. The painting here distinctly separates the two temporalities between the sleep of the disciples and the crucifixion above. The figure of Jesus in the middle of the canvas still bridges the human and divine worlds for a few days.
The choice of theme, the treatment of light, the putti of the painting perfectly represent Poussin’s main inspirations: ancient and religious scenes and French and Italian Renaissance painting. The painter born in Normandie remains in posterity the embodiment of an artistic classicism – although, as he grew older, he gave more and more space to landscapes, moving away from the almost sculptural representation of the human body, as in Blind Orion searching for the rising sun.
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