ABSTRACT
NICHOLAS POUSSIN is one of the great painters of the world; yet it is easier to give reasons for disliking him than for liking him. After his death there was a war of pamphlets about him; the one side, led by Lebrun, holding him up as a model for all painters to come, the other side, under de Piles, calling him a mere pedant compared with Rubens. Here is a passage from a poem against Poussin:— II sçavoit manier la régle et le compas, Parloit delalumière et ne l’entendoit pas; II estoit de l’antique un assez bon copiste, Mais sans invention, et mauvais coloriste. II ne pouvait marcher que sur le pas d’autruy: Le génie a manqué, c’est un malheur pour luy.
