Echo and Narcissus (Poussin)

Echo and Narcissus
Écho et Narcisse
ArtistNicolas Poussin
Year1627
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions74 cm × 100 cm (29 in × 39 in)
LocationLouvre, Paris

Echo and Narcissus is an oil painting by French artist Nicolas Poussin, from 1627-1628. It measures 74 by 100 cm (29 by 39 in) and is held in the Louvre, in Paris.[1]

The myth

The work derives from Greek Mythology. According to Ovid's Metamorphoses, the nymph Echo fell in love with Narcissus, but he rejected her. Nemesis, the goddess of vengeance, punished Narcissus by making him fall in love with his own reflection. At the place where he died grew the flower that bears his name: Narcissus.[2]

The painting

Poussin illustrates this myth by representing three characters in an idyllic landscape: in the foreground, Narcissus, lying down; behind him, on the right, Eros, god of love; and on the left, sitting on a rock, Echo. Around the hair of the dead young Narcissus are already blooming flowers to which he gave his name. Echo, leaning on a rock, seems "an elegiac and immaterial apparition".[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Anthony Blunt, The Paintings of Nicolas Poussin. A Critical Catalogue, London, Phaidon, 1966
  2. ^ Jacques Thuillier, Nicolas Poussin, Paris, Flammarion, 1994, pp. 248-249 (French)
  3. ^ (in Spanish) Andreas Prater, “El Barroco” en Los maestros de la pintura occidental, Taschen, 2005, p.246, ISBN 3-8228-4744-5