Virgin and Child in a Garland of Flowers

Virgin and Child in a Garland of Flowers from 1626 at the Brighton Museum shows Poussin collaborating with a specialist flower painter in a format widely popular in early seventeenth-century Rome, where the tradition of combining a devotional figure with an elaborate floral wreath had been developed by Daniel Seghers and other Flemish painters working in Italy. The genre required two specialisms that were rarely combined in a single painter — devotional figure painting and botanical still life — making collaboration between specialists the natural solution. Poussin developed his religious subjects through study of ancient Roman reliefs and Italian Renaissance masters, composing the Virgin and Child with the geometric clarity and emotional warmth characteristic of his early devotional works. The floral wreath by the second hand contrasts with Poussin's figure in its more decorative, materially sensuous approach. The Brighton Museum holds this collaborative work as an example of the diverse commercial formats that sustained Poussin during his early Roman years.

The Madonna and Child are framed within an elaborate floral garland. Poussin's figure painting contrasts with the detailed botanical rendering of the surrounding flowers.