Poussin

This book came out for the first time in 1990, and is now at its fourth edition, and owes its longevity to Poussin’s new success (and that of the exhibitions that celebrate him, like the one to open at the Louvre next week) as well as to his own qualities. The author is exhaustive and clear, and does not hesitate to use anecdotes (the adventure-filled trip to see the "gentleman from Poitou", the little theater of wax figures) or the judgements of contemporaries. Poussin (1594-1665), the exact contemporary of Velázquez, is placed again in the context of the colony of artists in Rome, where he lived for the greater part of his career, with characters such as Cassiano del Pozzo, Simon Vouet or the Barberini are well-drawn in the background. The themes, so mysterious for us, of the seven sacraments or the love story of Pyramus and Thisbe, are patiently decrypted. This makes a painter held for being "difficult" a little more accessible.

• Poussin by Alain Mérot, éditions Hazan, 2015, 332 p., €40