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Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin created paintings which helped to influence the development of art across the 17th century by using the lively combination of his native French creativity with experience of working in the artistic centre of Europe at that time, namely Italy. This article covers Nicolas Poussin and his career in full, touching at times of some of the significant paintings to have come from his career.
Some of the most famous paintings from Nicolas Poussin's career included Rape of the Sabine Women, Eucharist, Helios and Phaeton with Saturn and the Four Seasons, Et in Arcadia ego (Les Bergers d'Arcadie), The Four Seasons: Summer, or Ruth and Boaz, Adoration of the Shepherds and many more. French artists have been inspired by the achievements of Poussin and many of these have gone on to create exceptional careers of their own, with some of the better known artists believed to have been inspired by Nicolas Poussin including Jacques-Louis David, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Paul Cezanne, to name just three.
Many art academics believe that it was the circumstances of Poussin's early life which helped him to produce a career which was so influential. Having learnt most of his trade within Italy which led the art world at that time, Poussin was seen by his native French art followers as someone who should be respected for his experiences even before accepting the quality of his actual paintings. Once his experience had been combined with the creativity and imagination that his French roots gave him, Poussin was virtually unstoppable and this led to his ordered recall back to France in order to serve as the First painter to the King, which was an extraordinary nomination for anyone during this period of French history. Despite this promotion, it is his paintings which Nicolas Poussin created earlier in his career that stand out most prominently from his full list of works as paintings which academics and the art public alike most appreciate today.
We can conclude that Nicolas Poussin produced some highly influential paintings which helped to inspire some of the future generations of French artists, even though most of his career was actually spent abroad in Italy. Poussin's career came at a time when French art was starting to dominate European art and they remained highly significant for several centuries up until the end of the impressionists, after which the contemporary arts scene followed at that involved a very wide range of artists for all across the continent.

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