POUSSIN'S “TREATISE” ON PAINTING AND TASSO'S DISCORSI

In a letter to his friend and patron Paul Fréart de Chantelou, dated 29 August, 1650, Poussin reveals his intent to compose a treatise on painting. He had already gathered some “avertissements” on the subject, but opted not to divulge them at the time out of deference and gratitude to Chantelou's brother, Roland Fréart de Chambray, whose learned discourse on ancient and modern architecture had just appeared. Its preface had touted Poussin as the “le Raphaël de nostre siècle.” Poussin thus felt that he could not, in modesty, acknowledge such praise by writing Chambray directly, nor expound his own ideas on painting to one whose learning was “trop savant” in this matter. Nonetheless, he promises that the refinement of his theoretical ideas would be a future undertaking. Much to the dismay of his supporters, Poussin's treatise never materialized despite widespread rumors of its existence. His brother-in-law and assistant, Jean Dughet, explained that the weariness of age had impeded Poussin, and that death eventually halted the noble endeavor. In all likelihood, the “avertissements” did, at least partially, “voir le jour,” as transformed posthumously into the Osservazioni di Nicolò Pussino sopra la pittura that Giovanni Pietro Bellori appended to his biography of the artist. Furthermore, Poussin, in one of his last letters, finally indulged Chambray's desire for some kernel of his pictorial wisdom. This time he was obliged by the author's even more fulsome paean in the Idée de la perfection de la peinture (1662).