Paysage_avec_Hercule_et_Cacus_-_Poussin_-_Mus%C3%A9e_Pouchkine_Moscou

''Landscape with Hercules and Cacus'' is an oil on canvas painting by French painter

Nicolas Poussin Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and mythologic ...

, created ''c.'' 1660. It is held in the

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...

, in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. It depicts a scene from lines 190-275 of Book VIII of Virgil's ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

''. Its early history is unknown. It and the same artist's '' Landscape with Polyphemus'' were bought by

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...

for

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

for the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and holds the large ...

. Diderot gave them both to Prince Dmitri Alekseyevich Gallitzin, who transported them to

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and thence to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. ''Polyphemus'' remains in the Hermitage, whilst ''Hercules and Cacus'' was moved to its present home in 1930.Кузнецова И. А., Шарнова Е. Б. Франция XVI — первой половины XIX века : собрание живописи : каталог / Ирина Кузнецова, Елена Шарнова; Государственный музей изобразительных искусств имени А. С. Пушкина. — ''М. : Красная площадь, 2001.'' — 479 pages : ил., цв. ил., портр. — № 182. — ISBN 5-900743-57-8. — p. 202-204

References

1660 paintings Paintings by Nicolas Poussin Paintings based on the Aeneid Paintings of Heracles Paintings in the Pushkin Museum {{1660s-painting-stub

See also

References