The Story
This page is a list of paintings by Nicolas Poussin (Andelys, 15 June 1594 – Rome, 19 November 1665). The attributions vary notably from one art historian to another. Jacques Thuillier, one of the most restrictive, produced a list in 1994 that gave 224 uncontested autograph works and 33 works with minor or major doubts about their attribution to Poussin. Certain attributions have since changed, when paintings thought lost are rediscovered, meaning that this list cannot be considered exhaustive.
Created in 1632 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the daily life tradition. Nicolas Poussin worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in Oil on canvas, measuring 38 3/8 x 28 5/8 in. (97.5 x 72.7 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Nicolas Poussin builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
