Abstract:
Finger on my lips: Hieratic symbolism in Poussin’s Egyptian tableaus.
Liesbeth Grotenhuis
When in Rome, Poussin became seriously attracted by antiquities. Like the popular Praeneste mosaic, representing a Hellenistic reconstruction of ancient Egypt. What Poussin saw, he adapted in his paintings to indicate ancient Egypt. Obelisks and ibisses serve as a décor for the the holy family on their flight to Egypt, pyramids and a sphinx surround the daughter of the pharao when she finds baby Moses in the Nile.
But just an exotic landmark was not enough for Poussin: his paintings should be ‘read’ instead of ‘looked at’, as the painter explains himself. This paper examins how Poussin used hermetic symbolism, related to an Egyptian content to evoke ‘enigmatic things’.