Smith, John: A catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters: in which is included a short biographical notice of the artists, with a copious description of their principal pictures : a statement of the prices at which such pictures have been sold at public sales on the continent and in England; a reference the the galleries and private collections in which a large portion are at present; and the names of the artists by whom they have been engraved; to which is added, a brief notice of the scholars & imitators of the great masters of the above schools (Part 8) (London: Smith and Son, 1837)

NICHOLAS POUSSIN.

107

Mythological Subjects.
203. Vulcan’s Cave, with the Cyclops. A picture so
described, was sold in the collection of M. de Calonne, 1795,
for 73/.

204. The Birth of Bacchus. Agreeable to the fabled
history of this divinity, Mercury is represented as having just
alighted on the island of Cubsea, and is giving the newly
born infant into the care of the nymphs ; one of whom, seated
on the ground, is willingly receiving him, while a second,
leaning on the shoulder of her companion, is turning round,
and apparently communicating the event to five other nymphs;
two are wantoning in a cooling stream, two others are seated
on its margin in conversation, and the remaining one stands
by looking on. A covered table, on which are gold cups and
vases, is placed on the farther side of the nymphs; and vines,
laden with fruit, grow luxuriantly around it. In the opposite
side of the picture are introduced Narcissus and Echo ; the
former lies on the bank of a stream amidst ssowers, and the
latter sits pensively on a rock beyond him. The poetry of the
picture is heightened by the presence of Pan, who is seen on
the summit of a distant hill playing his rural pipe; and in the
heavens appear the Queen of Love reclining in her car,
and Phoebus rising above the distant hills. Engraved by
J. Verinus.

205. The Birth of Bacchus. The composition of this
picture differs considerably from the preceding, for Mercury
here, while delivering the infant to the nymphs, points to the
heavens, indicating the source of his birth, and Jupiter, with
his handmaid Hebe, are there seen on a cloud. The table is
also omitted, and in its place is a number of vases standing