composition, and is more freely executed within a more rigorous formulation (Arikha, 12). Painted for the Cardinal Aluigi Omodei, he proposed it for sale in 1655. Sent from Rome to Louis XIV in 1865, along with The Triumph of Flora (Louvre), which also belonged to the Cardinal Omodei. Their whereabouts from 1655 to 1865 are unknown, but it is said to have been in the collection of the Cardinal Omodei all his life. The abducted Sabine women became the mothers of the Roman patricians; this crime became a heroic act for the Romans. The theme of the abduction of the Sabines, widespread during the Roman Empire, disappeared during the Middle Ages and reappeared during the XVth century. Among the painters who painted this heroic act of the Romans were: Jacopo del Sellaio, Bartolomeo di Giovanni, Antonio Avelino, and Amico Aspertini (Arikha, 15). Poussin gathered information from many different sources. He combined the texts of Livy, Plutarch, and of Virgils description of the rape of the sabines women (Arikha, 15). Each point in this painting has its retort; each forms its own rhyme. For instance the couple on the left rhymes with the couple running on the right of the painting. The group formed by Romulus on the tribune rhymes with the group on the balcony in the upper right hand corner of the painting. The old women kneeling rhymes with the old women sitting. As in a poem everything in this painting rhymes.The Holy Family on the Steps This painting was commissioned by a man that Poussin knew very little about, his name was Nicolas Hennequin (Master of the Royal Hunt). To this day we know little about Nicolas Hennequin and what association he had with Nicolas Poussin. It is said that Poussin for part of the composition relied on several different sources. One of these sources for the central section was the ancient Aldobrandini Wedding Roman fresco. This connection with an antique work of art shows Poussin's love for the ...
