Circle of Nicolas Poussin

(Les Andelys 1594–1665 Rome)
Landscape with the gathering of the Ashes of Phocion,
inscribed on the reverse: PHOCIONIS. DEMORTVI. CINERES. COLL- ECTI. NIC. POVSS. PINXIT. AN. O. 1645,
oil on canvas, 117 x 175 cm, framed

Provenance:
probably Gabriele dal Pozzo Collection, Rome (before 1695);
probably Cosimo Antonio dal Pozzo (before 1741) and by descent to Maria Laura Dal Pozzo Boccapaduli;
Aristocratic collection, Rome;
sale, Babuino, Rome, 4 March 2014, lot 84 (as Roman School, 17th Century);
where acquired by the present owner

Documentation:
Post-mortem inventory of Gabriele Dal Pozzo, Rome, Archivio di Stato, 30 Notai Capitolini, Ufficio 6, Vol. 210, 5th-7th March 1695, fol. 261v, nn. 111-112: ‘un quadro di sette, e 5 rappresentante la peste di Gaspare, e Nicolò Pusino / Altro di simil misura rappresentante Paese con Donna che raccoglie le ceneri di fusione del Pusino’; ‘Osservazioni fatte dal Signor Perito pittore sopra all’Inventario de quadri ereditarii del Signore Commentore Cosimo Antonio Dal Pozzo’ by Anton Maria Bozzolani, Rome, Archivio Storico Capitolino, Fondo Boccapaduli/dal Pozzo, Pozzo I, arm. III, div. III, undated, but probably before 30 April 1741, fol.9, no. 29: ‘Dui quadri in tela da sette e cinque per traverso rappresentanti Paesi uno de quali con una donna, che lava ed altre figure, ed altro con figure, che portano un morto coperto con panno biancho ambedui Copie del Pousini con cornice fatta a cassa color di noce con tre filetti dorati’

Literature:
D. L. Sparti, The dal Pozzo collection again: the inventories of 1689 and 1695 and the family archive, in: The Burlington Magazine, 132, 1049, August 1990, mentioned p. 563, no. 112;
T. J. Standring, Come fare l’inventario dei beni dal Pozzo: una disputa legale sul Fidecommesso, in: F. Solinas (ed.), I Segreti di un Collezionista. Le straordinarie raccolte di Cassiano dal Pozzo 1588–1657, exhibition catalogue, Rome 2000, mentioned p. 207, no. 29

The present painting is on its original canvas and relates to the painting by Nicolas Poussin of the same subject (116 x 176 cm), conserved in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool (see fig.1). The present painting bears a seventeenth-century inscription on the verso in capitals (see fig. 2), which corresponds in type to those on the works that belonged to the celebrated collection of Cassiano Dal Pozzo (1588–1657) and were collected by him, and his younger brother Carlo Antonio. Indeed, it may be possible to identify this painting in the lists of the family inventories. On Carlo Antonio’s death in 1689 a first inventory of the collection was drawn up, while a second was drafted on the death of his son Gabriele Dal Pozzo in 1695. It is in the latter inventory that the description of a work that may correspond to the present painting appears given to ‘Pusino’, along with another of similar dimensions (see documentation above, no. 112).

In 1741, on the death of Gabriele’s son, Cosimo Antonio Dal Pozzo, his daughter Maria Laura married Boccapaduli and had a list of the works inherited from her father compiled by Anton Maria Bozzolani. The painting presently under discussion may appear at number 29 in this list and is paired with another painting (see documentation above, no. 29).

The probable prestigious provenance of the present canvas may lead to the possibility that this work was made within the immediate circle of Poussin, and perhaps even under the master’s direct supervision, given its high quality and its considerable similarity to the Liverpool painting. The question of the date, 1645, on the back of the present canvas remains open, as the Liverpool painting has been dated to 1648. The Liverpool painting (see fig. 1) demonstrates the French artist’s development from purely historical painting, to a new approach towards harmonious, classically inspired landscapes dominated by man’s presence. A similar painterly style was adopted by the artist’s son-in-law, Gaspard Dughet (1615–1675), who it has been suggested may be responsible, in part, for the present painting.

As often occurs in Poussin’s paintings, the subjects undertaken reflect important moral and philosophical content, and in this case the figure of Phocion incarnates a stoic ethic, which was rediscovered and shared by intellectuals from the outset of the Renaissance. The episode, which in the present painting is framed by landscape and trees, is drawn from ancient Greek history, as narrated by Plutarch in his Lives. The Athenian general Phocion who lived in the fourth century BC had always enjoyed great admiration from his fellow citizens on account of his honesty and his simple and virtuous behaviour. At the end of his life, however, he was falsely accused of treason, and on this account a burial within the city confines was denied to him. The present work represents the final episode of the story: Phocion’s widow, seen in the foreground accompanied by a faithful maid, kneels to secretly gather her husband’s remaining ashes that have been abandoned outside of Athens, which is depicted in the distance.