Midas à la source du Pactole
Nicolas Poussin·1626
Historical Context
Midas at the Source of the Pactolus from around 1626 at the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio shows Poussin painting the mythological king who washed away his golden touch by bathing in the river Pactolus. The story served as a moral fable about the dangers of greed — Midas had been granted his golden touch as a wish and found it made normal life impossible — a theme that resonated with Poussin's Stoic philosophy, which valued virtue and simplicity over material wealth. Working in Rome from 1624 onwards, Poussin served a cultivated international clientele who prized his learned approach to classical subjects as both artistic achievement and philosophical discourse. The Musée Fesch in Ajaccio, one of France's major collections assembled by Napoleon's uncle Cardinal Fesch, holds this early Poussin among a distinguished assembly of Italian and French paintings that reflects the cardinal's sophisticated collecting over a long life.
Technical Analysis
The composition sets the figure within a landscape that supports the moral narrative. Poussin's handling of the water and landscape demonstrates his developing classical landscape style.
Look Closer
- ◆Midas kneels at the river's edge in a posture of supplication that mirrors the prayer he offered to obtain his ruinous golden touch.
- ◆The river Pactolus is shown changing color as Midas enters it, Poussin rendering the miracle as a visible alteration in the water's hue.
- ◆River gods or attendant figures observe the scene with classical detachment, their presence locating the myth within a specific Mediterranean geography.
- ◆Poussin's early Roman style shows in the cool, sculptural modeling of the figures, already different from his later, more atmospheric handling.
