Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin was a leading painter of the classical French Baroque style who spent most of his working life in Rome, creating religious and mythological works for Italian and French collectors. He briefly served as First Painter to the King under Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu in Paris before returning to Rome. His work is characterized by clarity, logic, and order, favoring line over color, and he remained a major inspiration for classically-oriented artists until the 20th century.