Narcissus1.0061

Narcissus1.0061_Poussin

Louvre
OGCMA s.v. "Narcissus"
Classical Sources:
Ovid, Metamorphoses, 3.339-510
Pausanias, 9.31.6-9

Nicolas Poussin, "Echo and Narcissus," 1627-1629, Louvre, Paris, no. 7292 (731).

ML, 8th ed., color plate 13

M. Alpatov, "Poussin Problems," Art Bulletin 17 (1935), 5-30 [JSTOR]— Poussin's early work shows him resolving issues of object- and space-representation.

Mythological painting of a sleeping nude man and a reclining woman, with Cupid nearby, under trees.

Echo is already beginning to vanish into the background; Narcissus already projects the attitude of death; and, although Cupid has a cherubic grin, his torch seems more funereal than amorous in this scene.

OGCMA slides are designed by Roger T. Macfarlane for use in Classical Civilization 241 courses at Brigham Young University.
The present resource contains information assembled for The Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts, 1400 – 1990’s, edited by J. Davidson Reid (Oxford 1994), and it is used with express permission from Oxford University Press.
Address concerns or inquiries to macfarlane@byu.edu.