DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.69942#0386
FINDING OF MOSES.
ings of antiquity. An enlightened critic, and eminent
professor of this country, has observed, that “ He lived
“ and conversed with the ancient statues so long, that
“ he may be said to be better acquainted with them than
“ with the people about him.” It is well known, that
the fabled of the ancients were his favorite subjects ; and
from his knowledge of their manners, customs, and cere-
monies, no one could undertake them with greater pro-
priety. His pictures, therefore, though unequal in point
of colouring, possess the most appropriate decoration,
and fit the mind for the contemplation of the object he
pourtrays.
In each of these pictures the river Nile is represented
by an animated figure. It is a poetical idea, which
Poussin, no doubt, appreciated; for similar figures are
observable in many of his other compositions. The in-
troduction, however, of mythology and allegory, in sacred
subjects, is nevertheless difficult to approve.
This picture has been in the collection of the king of
France from the time of Felibien. The other was painted
for a private gentleman, from whose hands it passed into
the cabinet of the Marquis de Seignelay.
ings of antiquity. An enlightened critic, and eminent
professor of this country, has observed, that “ He lived
“ and conversed with the ancient statues so long, that
“ he may be said to be better acquainted with them than
“ with the people about him.” It is well known, that
the fabled of the ancients were his favorite subjects ; and
from his knowledge of their manners, customs, and cere-
monies, no one could undertake them with greater pro-
priety. His pictures, therefore, though unequal in point
of colouring, possess the most appropriate decoration,
and fit the mind for the contemplation of the object he
pourtrays.
In each of these pictures the river Nile is represented
by an animated figure. It is a poetical idea, which
Poussin, no doubt, appreciated; for similar figures are
observable in many of his other compositions. The in-
troduction, however, of mythology and allegory, in sacred
subjects, is nevertheless difficult to approve.
This picture has been in the collection of the king of
France from the time of Felibien. The other was painted
for a private gentleman, from whose hands it passed into
the cabinet of the Marquis de Seignelay.