Landscape with Saint John on Patmos

Museum record 5848: Landscape with Saint John on Patmos by Nicolas Poussin. A verified entry point for discovery.

What to notice

For Landscape with Saint John on Patmos (record 5848), start with modern, expressive, atmospheric. Compare the focal subject, edge treatment, and atmosphere before moving on.

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In Christian tradition, Saint John the Evangelist is thought to be the youngest of Christ’s twelve disciples—but Nicolas Poussin depicted him here as an elderly man. The disciple has retired to the Greek island of Patmos to write the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation; he is shown at work with his attribute, an eagle, just behind him. Poussin constructed an idealized landscape, shaping natural forms according to geometric principles and reinforcing the measured order of the composition by arrangin…