Orion aveugle à la recherche du soleil levant (1658)

Poussin, Nicolas (1594-1665)

Orion aveugle à la recherche du soleil levant (Blind Orion Searching for the Rising Sun)
1658
Oil on canvas, 119.1 x 182.9 cm
Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York

Classical myth provided Poussin with a pretext for one of his greatest landscapes, executed with staid precision in the minute brushstrokes that the artist adopted late in life. According to the Greek writer Lucian (A.D. 125–180), the blind giant Orion was directed toward the healing rays of the sun by Cedalion, seen here instructing him while standing on his shoulders. The earth’s vapors rise toward the moon—represented by a watchful Diana—and will return as rain, a meteorological subtext that illustrates the circulation of elements. This poetic painting was commissioned by Michel Passart, an important Parisian patron of landscapes by both Poussin and Claude Lorrain. (MET)