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 flower painter in a format popular in early 17th-century Rome. The combination of devotional figure and floral wreath created a decorative devotional type. Poussin developed his religious subjects through intense study of ancient Roman reliefs and Italian Renaissance masters, composing figures as if arranging actors on a stage. His cool, clear palette and sculptural figure treatment we...

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.