Concert of Cupids
Nicolas Poussin·1627
Historical Context
Concert of Cupids from 1627 at the Louvre shows putti making music in a mythological setting drawn from the ancient Roman decorative tradition that Poussin had absorbed through his study of classical art in Rome. These decorative mythological scenes demonstrate his versatility and his command of the infant figure within classical composition, serving a market that wanted charming, learned decoration rather than philosophical gravity. The concert of putti was a subject with ancient precedent in Roman relief sculpture and Renaissance decoration, and Poussin's treatment engaged with this tradition while bringing his characteristic precision and warmth to the individual child figures. Working in Rome from 1624 onwards, he served a cultivated international clientele whose tastes encompassed both the philosophical and the decorative, and Concert subjects satisfied those who wanted classical erudition with a lighter touch. The Department of Paintings of the Louvre holds this alongside Poussin's more serious works, reminding viewers that his output encompassed a wider range of tone and register than his austere reputation suggests.
Technical Analysis
The group of musical putti creates a lively decorative composition. Poussin's warm palette and naturalistic handling of the child figures create an image of mythological charm.
Look Closer
- ◆Multiple putti play instruments simultaneously — lute, pipes, tambourine — creating an implied polyphony from figures too small for individual audibility.
- ◆The putti's chubby, rounded forms are studied from antique models Poussin sketched among Rome's ancient reliefs and sarcophagi in his early years.
- ◆A landscape of trees and sky provides the outdoor setting — not indoors, but in a mythological outdoor space of timeless, unlocatable play.
- ◆Poussin organizes the putti into a loose frieze rhythm across the picture plane, echoing the ancient relief sculptures he was systematically absorbing.
