The Death of Germanicus was a painting created in 1627 by Nicolas Poussin, an influential French painter. Before the painting of The Death of Germanicus, Poussin traveled to Rome and studied anatomy and perspective as well as examining ancient sculptures. Some of the famous sculptures that he studied were the Laocoon, the Belvedere Torso, and the Apollo Belvedere (Davies 741).
The Death of Germanicus “served as a model for artistic depictions of heroic deathbed scenes for the next two centuries and may in fact be the first example of this subject in the history of art” (Davies 741). Poussin’s oil on canvas work represented a typical historical painting which displayed the themes of death, loyalty, and revenge. This painting became a model
