Study of a Palm Tree (recto); Mountain Landscape (verso)
ca. 1635–40
Medium
Pen and brown ink, over traces of black chalk (recto); pen and brown ink (verso)
Dimensions
8 1/16 x 10 3/16 in. (20.5 x 25.8 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Guy Wildenstein Gift and Van Day Truex and Harry G. Sperling Funds, 2002
Accession Number
2002.39a, b
Tags
Art Historical Context
Nicolas Poussin’s double-sided drawing from around 1635–40 captures the artist’s keen observation of nature during his years in Rome. Created with pen and brown ink over faint black chalk on the recto and pure pen and ink on the verso, the sheet shows a carefully studied palm tree on one side and a sweeping mountain landscape on the other. These quick yet precise studies reflect Poussin’s methodical approach to recording natural forms that would later appear in his grand classical landscapes and history paintings. As a leading figure of seventeenth-century French classicism, Poussin valued cl...
About the Artist
Nicolas Poussin · 1594–1665
Nicolas Poussin, born in June 1594 near Les Andelys in Normandy, emerged from a family of local distinction whose modest means and parental opposition could not deter his artistic calling. He received his initial training under the itinerant painter Quentin Varin in Rouen around 1611–12, absorbing lessons in storytelling, precise facial expressions, and rich colors, though without a formal long-te...