Fra Andrea Pozzo was an Italian …show more content…
In 1640, Poussin painted the Landscape with Saint John on Patmos. The painting is a 3’ 3.5” X 4’ 5 5/8” oil on canvas where it resides in the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. In France, the monarchical authority had been increasing in the reign of Louis XIV, who sought out the direction of French society and culture. In the 17th-century, France became Europe’s largest and most powerful nation and the arts flourished. Louis XIV (the “son king”) desired for control and to expand all realms of French life, including art. Louis and his principal adviser, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, strived for organized art and architecture in the service of the state. They sought out a regularize taste and established classical style as the preferred French manner. The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1648 advanced what they were striving for.
In the painting Landscape with Saint John on Patmos, the landscape is so vast and extensive that St. John looks miniscule in the front. In the background, lies an incredible landscape of sandy hills, big oak trees, and the mainland on the left. The comfortable special depth leads the eye to slowly move along the painting starting with the foreground then the background. The significance of the piece demonstrates the fall of pagan beliefs, the triumph of Christianity, and the symbols of both progress and human