Jazzmyn Howington
ARTH 110 Survey of Western Art II
Professor Jassin
May 22, 2008
The Mêlée between Man and Nature [1600-1785]
Man’s relationship with nature during the French Baroque Period [1600-1715] could be
described as manipulation (no pun intended). The French Baroque artists, along with the
monarchy, believed that nature and landscapes should be manmade, clean and cultivated.
However, after decades of tight rule from the “sun king” and the rigid canon of painting set by
the Royal Academy, the artists and people of the Rococo Period [1715-1785] felt that nature
should take its own course. The rules and formality were taken out of both politics and art.
Therefore, the art of each period directly reflects the artistic tradition and political control of the
time, and is best monitored through the power struggle between man and nature.
The French Baroque Period was characterized and influenced by two major things, one of
them being the French Monarch. The other was classicism and antiquity. Both the French
monarch, the ancient Roman and the Italian Renaissance (classical influences) had an aptitude
for control; whether it is the gardens of Versailles to the idealized figures of Rome. This is why,
during the French Baroque period, the power is in the hands of man over nature.
Nicolas Poussin was a French painter but spent much of his life in Rome. This is where
he got classical inspiration from artists such as Raphael and Annibale Carracci. He took liking to
the Roman and Florentine principle of Designo. Like Raphael, he becomes intrigued with
placing figures in a landscape, and uses the Venetian landscape called Arcadia (paradise) as his
backdrop. However, his piece, Et in Arcadia, does not celebrate the landscape being Arcadia.
