TY - JOUR
T1 - “Un fior vano e fragile”
T2 - The Symbolism of Poussin's Realm of Flora
AU - Thomas, Troy
N1 - Funding Information:
I should like to thank the following people for their help in the preparation of this article: Louise Barnett, Creighton Gilbert, Chris Hildebrandt, Donna Horley, Loretta Reigle, Joanne Smith, and Jean Thomas. I am indebted to the Research Council of The Pennsylvania State University, Capitol Campus, for two travel grants that enabled me to carry out the research for this project. Transcriptions of the Italian in the following notes are faithful to the spelling and accents of the original sources. 1 See Jane Costello, "The Twelve Pictures 'Ordered by Velasquez' and the Trial of Valguarnera," Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XIII, 1950, 273. 2 Ripa, 501: "Si dipinge anco per la Primavera Flora...." 3 Ovid, Fasti, trans. James Frazer, Loeb Classical Library, London and New York, 1931, vv.332-334.
PY - 1986/6/1
Y1 - 1986/6/1
N2 - Glosses in Renaissance Ovids, mythological handbooks, and other sources help to clarify the meaning of Poussin's Realm of Flora in Dresden. In his painting Poussin represented the mortab from Ovid's Metamorphoses who became flowers. The commentaries in Giovanni Andrea deU'Anguillara's Italian translation (first published in 1561), representative of a long tradition, interpret these unfortunate humans as victims of their own passions, and the flowers they become as symbols of vanity and the brevity of life. The article suggests that these allegories illuminate the meaning and melancholic atmosphere of Poussin's painting, a work combining the forms of vanitas and elegy.
AB - Glosses in Renaissance Ovids, mythological handbooks, and other sources help to clarify the meaning of Poussin's Realm of Flora in Dresden. In his painting Poussin represented the mortab from Ovid's Metamorphoses who became flowers. The commentaries in Giovanni Andrea deU'Anguillara's Italian translation (first published in 1561), representative of a long tradition, interpret these unfortunate humans as victims of their own passions, and the flowers they become as symbols of vanity and the brevity of life. The article suggests that these allegories illuminate the meaning and melancholic atmosphere of Poussin's painting, a work combining the forms of vanitas and elegy.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955818885&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77955818885&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00043079.1986.10788335
DO - 10.1080/00043079.1986.10788335
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77955818885
SN - 0004-3079
VL - 68
SP - 225
EP - 236
JO - The Art Bulletin
JF - The Art Bulletin
IS - 2
ER -