The Empire of Flora 1631

Nicolas Poussin painted this canvas, The Empire of Flora, using oil paints. A highly developed and refined medium, oil allowed Poussin to achieve an astonishing level of detail, and to evoke a palpable sense of atmosphere, with figures seemingly suspended in a soft, golden light. Consider how much labor is tied into the production of this painting: from grinding the pigments, to mixing the paints, to stretching and priming the canvas – and of course, applying the paint to the canvas with subtle skill. Poussin was one of the great exponents of history painting, a genre which required extensive research into the classical past. It was labor intensive in that sense as well. Ultimately, for Poussin, this kind of technical and intellectual work was a means to an end: the making of pictures that were meant to ennoble and inspire. By attending to the artful methods involved, we can move beyond merely admiring the painting's surface, to understanding its full significance.