В 1640 г. Пуссен приехал в Париж по приглашению короля Людовика XIII. Первый период творчества Пуссена завершился, когда в буколические темы ворвалась тема смерти. В 40-50-е годы колористическая гамма Пуссена становится все сдержанней. Основное внимание уделяется рисунку и скульптурности форм. Лучшими у позднего Пуссена остаются пейзажи, в которых человек трактуется как часть природы.
vi Summarize the text.
viI Topics for discussion
1. The theoretical basis ofPoussin's art.
2. The role of music in Poussin's paintings.
3. Poussin's artistic influence.
Unit XII Rubens (1577-1640)
Peter Paul Rubens exercised in Flanders a great stylistic authority. Born near Cologne, the son of a Protestant emigre from Antwerp, he spent his childhood in Germany. He received a thorough grounding in Latin and in theology, spent a few months as a page to a countess, and grew up as an unparalleled combination of scholar, diplomat and painter. Rubens spoke and wrote six modern languages, and was probably the most learned artist of all time. His house in Antwerp was a factory from which massive works emerged in a never-ending stream. Although most paintings were designed by Rubens in rapidly painted colour sketches on wood, all the large ones were painted by pupils and then retouched by the master.
Rubens was the man of extraordinary character and intelligence. One visitor recounted how Rubens could listen to a reading of Roman history in Latin, carry on a learned conversation, paint a picture, and dictate a letter all at the same time.
Rubens first emerged on the international scene during his visit to Italy in 1600 where he remained for eight years. Artistically Rubens was an adopted Italian, with little interest in the Early Netherlandish masters. With indefatigable energy he set out to conquer the fortress of Italian art. He made hundreds of drawings and scores of copies after Roman sculpture as well as paintings.
An early work in Antwerp Cathedral, the Raising of the Cross, a panel more than fifteen feet high, painted in 1609-10, shows the superhuman energy with which Rubens attacked his mighty concepts. This central panel of a triptych is a complete picture in itself. There is no hint of Caravaggio's psychological interests. The executioners, whose muscularity recalls Michelangelo's figures, raise the Cross, forming a colossal pyramid of struggling figures. In this painting the typical High Renaissance interfigural composition is transformed into a Baroque climax.
