Art Institute of ChicagoPublic domain

Landscape with Saint John on Patmos

Nicolas Poussin · 1640

Analyst brief

What the record supports

Nicolas Poussin's "Landscape with Saint John on Patmos" is an oil on canvas painted in 1640. The artwork measures 100.3 × 136.4 cm and is classified under the "Painting and Sculpture of Europe" department. It was acquired as part of the A. A. Munger Collection.

The painting was commissioned by abate Gian Maria Roscioli, Rome, and paid for on October 28, 1640, along with its pendant, "Landscape with Saint Mathew." Its ownership history includes François-Antoine Robit, Sir Simon Clarke, and Andrew Geddes before being offered for sale multiple times. Max Rothschild acquired the artwork in 1918 (or possibly 1928, with conflicting dates cited in literature). The E. A. Fleischmann Gallery, Munich, owned it by 1930 and sold it to the Art Institute in the same year.

The work has been exhibited extensively, including at the British Institution in London in 1861, the Art Institute of Chicago multiple times between 1933 and 1974, and the Musée du Louvre in Paris in 1960. It has been referenced in numerous publications, with early mentions by W. Buchanan in 1824 and John Smith in 1837. Its specific auction prices at some points in its provenance are not provided in the supplied data.

Generated from the catalogue fields shown on this page. Nartmad does not assert attributions, valuations or prices that no cited source supports.

Provenance

Ownership history

Commissioned by abate Gian Maria Roscioli (died 1644), Rome, and paid for, with its pendant (Landscape with Saint Mathew, now Berlin, Gemäldegalerie) on October 28, 1640 for 40 écus [documents published by Barroero 1979 and Corradini 1979). Probably in a French collection by 1680 [when engraved by Louis de Châtillon, c. 1680]. François-Antoine Robit, Paris, sold Paillet and Delaroche, Paris, May 11 and following, 1801, no. 91, to Naudou acting for Michael Bryan, for Fr 7,100 [see Edwards 1996, pp. 299, 304]; sold by Bryan, probably shortly thereafter, to Sir Simon Clarke, Bt (died 1832), Oakhill, Hertfordshire, for 1,000 gns. [see Buchanan 1824; with George Hibbert, Clarke had provided financial support for Bryan’s purchases at the Robit sale]; sold Christie’s, London, May 8-9, 1840, no. 39, to Geddes for 86 gns. [price and buyer in annotated catalogue at the Frick Art Reference Library]; Andrew Geddes, A.R.A. (died 1844), London; by descent to his widow, Adela Plimer Geddes (died 1881), offered for sale, Christie’s, London, April 12, 1845, no. 651, bought in; offered for sale, Christie’s, London, November 30, 1867, no. 56, bought in [annotated catalogue from Christie’s archive, copy in curatorial file]. Acquired on the London art market by Max Rothschild, 1918 [according to Blunt 1966; in London 1960 Blunt stated that Rothschild acquired the picture in 1928]. Possibly identical with the picture that was sold at Christie’s, London, December 16, 1927, no. 86, to Leger for £21[see Art Prices Current, n.s. 7 London, 1928, p. 105, the dimensions given as 40 x 52 1/2 inches; see also Posse 1930]. E. A. Fleischmann Gallery, Munich, by 1930; sold to the Art Institute, 1930.

Recorded by Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibitions

Exhibition history

London, British Institution, Works of Ancient Masters and Deceased British Artists, 1861, no. 22.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1933, no. 226.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Century of Progress, June 1–November 1, 1934, no. 147.
Art Institute of Chicago, Masterpiece of the Month, October 1939 (no cat.).
The Arts Club of Chicago, Origins of Modern Art, 1940, no. 35.
Worcester Art Museum, Massachusetts, Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Art of Europe during the XVIth – XVIIth Centuries, 1948, no. 7.
The Toledo Museum of Art, Nicolas Poussin, 1594-1665, 1959, pp. 27-28, traveled to Minneapolis.
Paris, Musée du Louvre, Exposition Nicolas Poussin, 1960, no. 68, traveled to Rouen.
Northampton, Massachusetts, Smith College Museum of Art, 1961 (no cat.).
New York, Wildenstein, Works of Art Lent from American Collections: The Italian Heritage, 1967, no. 68.
The Art Institute of Chicago, The Artist Looks at the Landscape, 1974 (no cat.).
New York, Wildenstein, Nature as Scene: French Landscape Painting from Poussin to Bonnard, 1975, no. 51.

Literature

Published references

W[illiam] Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting, with a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England since the French Revolution, vol. 2, London, 1824, pp. 59, no. 91, 67, no. 29.
John Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Paintings, vol. 8, London, 1837, pp. 161-62, no. 316.
Adela Geddes, Memoir of the late Andrew Geddes, Esq., A.R.A., London, 1844, p. 16.
Charles Blanc, Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles, pt. 2 Ecole française, vol. 1, Paris, 1864, Poussin, p. 24.
Emile Magne, Nicolas Poussin, premier peintre du roi, 1594-1665, Brussels and Paris, 1914, p. 214, no. 267.
Algernon Graves, Art Sales from Early in the Eighteenth Century to Early in the Twentieth Century, vol. 2, London, 1921, pp. 347, 349.
Walter Friedlaender in Das unbekannte Meisterwerk in öffentlichen und privaten Sammlungen, ed Wilhelm R. Valentiner, Berlin, 1930, no. 74, ill.
Hans Posse, “Johannes auf Patmos, ein wiedergefundenes Gemälde des Nicolas Poussin,” Pantheon 5 (1930), pp. 62, 64-64, ill.
Daniel Catton Rich, “Poussin and Cézanne,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 24 (1930), pp. 114-17, ill. cover.
“Chicago Buys a Poussin,” Art Digest 5, 7 (1931), p. 8.
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der Gemälde im Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum und Deutschen Museum, 9th ed., Berlin, 1931, p. 372, under no. 478A.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection, Chicago, 1931, p. 38, ill.

Comparables