Nicolas Poussin in Le Louvre - The Gathering of Manna (HD version) Video Lecture | Histoire de l'art - Art & Craft

the gathering of mana by Nicola Pusa in
the Louvre at first glance there's
something unsettling about the picture
there seems to be too much in it too
many objects and people to look at too
many different things happening at the
time it was painted even pulled flair -
auntie Liu who had commissioned itched
reportedly had doubts convinced of his
pictures worth who sigh insisted that
the story in the picture needed to be
read more carefully his advice must have
been taken since Shantanu whose first
Commission this was went on to become
one of his main patrons the picture
itself scored a lasting success soon
afterwards it was acquired by Louisville
14th and became the subject of formal
lectures at the academy of painting
where it was seen as heralding a new
type of art one that would make french
painter celebrated throughout europe so
what was this careful reading which
revealed the pictures true worth what
made it the model of a whole new style
the multifarious groups which people the
picture are its first intriguing feature
in the foreground or when breastfeeding
her starving mother tells her son to
wait his turn
a young man is showing something to an
old one and giving thanks to heaven on
the right a group of people are
gathering the food which has fallen from
the sky some behave calmly others are
fighting over it even infants are
reaching out to grasp it behind them in
the center of the picture two men
surrounded by many other people are
pointing to heaven or offering a prayer
of thanks in the background an
encampment can be seen flanked by a
group of trees and a huge rock with an
opening in it nearby
various people seem unaffected by the
general excitement they're asleep
lost in their own thoughts or digging at
this stage in our examination of this
picture we may wonder what in this
apparently chaotic scene with so many
different people doing so many different
things hold it together and gives it
unity in other words what is it really
about the answer seems obvious as its
title indicates the picture shows the
gathering of mana an Old Testament story
having escaped from Egypt the Israelites
are led through the wilderness by Moses
and Aaron who appear in the center of
the picture food is soon exhausted and
the people now dying of hunger begin to
lose faith in God God speaks to Moses
and promises that the Israelites will
now find every morning when they wake
manna food from heaven scattered on the
ground around their camp it will keep
them alive
but this explanation is inadequate
Poussin seems relatively uninterested in
the miracle in this conventional
treatment of the biblical scene we
clearly see the manna falling this is
what we meant to notice in this painting
by Tintoretto the miracle is immediately
evident God is physically shown the
miracles divine origin accounts for half
the composition and the Israelites are
joyfully gathering the manner indeed or
Rainey's version mana is less visible
but angels are scattering it Moses is a
massive figure and dominates the picture
there is none of all this in the Poussin
first of all the food falling from
heaven effectively becomes a mere detail
of the picture the dark sky on the right
the falling manner
all but hidden in the folds of a woman's
dress various receptacles secondly the
divine origin of the miracle is only
indirectly apparent there are no
supernatural apparitions no angels no
God heaven is evoke by human gestures
raised arms eyes directed upwards
prayerful gestures surprised and joyful
faces and Moses who points commandingly
to heaven unlike Reni's prophet however
he is in the middle distance and
relatively in shadow this accords with
Poussin's writings in his letters he
never refers to eternal life and speaks
of destiny or fortune rather than God
his real concern is less with the
miracle than with the human reactions
and emotions it provokes but this still
leaves our problem unsolved behind these
seemingly chaotic emotions can we find a
unifying factor a meaning
the picture which measures 1 meter 50 by
2 meters can be taken in as a whole and
the eye moves freely around in it and
yet there is an inescapable order there
seems to be a strategy to guide the
spectators attention firstly with the
help of light and colors which
automatically catch the viewers eye this
very poignant group is brightly lit
falling through gaps in the clouds the
sun's rays act like spotlights
yellow-blue the flesh tones of the child
all increased the effect once it has
been caught our attention was not wander
and the interplay of forms actively
guides it within this group the curve of
the daughter's arm the direction of the
mother's gaze and finally the arm as the
child lead the eye from one member of
the family to the next this movement
emphasizes the Solidarity which unites
them in the face of adversity
more generally the eye is led to the
right from the man standing on the left
to the cause of his wonderment in the
center and on to the old and young man
who are telling others of the man is
coming the pointing finger focuses our
attention on the various reactions of
the Israelites around Moses and Aaron
adoration mixed with fear respect for
their leaders deep reverence or simple
astonishment a second female figure now
catches our attention she forms a
symmetrical group with the first who
also has a child her yellow dress is
brightly lit her kneeling posture makes
us look at the figures on the right and
a pointing finger draws our attention to
the boys fighting over the manner what
the Pooh sounds ordering at the scene
and grouping of the figures mean behind
the pictures formal logic lies the logic
of the story it illustrates there is the
transition from a state of starvation to
one of delight at finding the manner
behind the foreground figures Moses
points to the source of the miracle and
Aaron thanks heaven for its benign
intervention around them two groups of
figures Express restored reverence for
God and his representatives but Kusa
is not simply interested in this happy
ending unlike the biblical text his
picture is able to give us a host of
individual expressions and reactions
whose ambiguous elements make us stop
and think
agitation
confusion of the key notes of the scene
on the right weather manner has been
distributed true it may relieve the
Israelites hunger but it also tests
their moral fiber take the woman on the
right is she the usual assumption urging
her family to share their food with the
old man sitting on the left or does she
want them to seize the manor which has
fallen at his feet the surrounding scene
is not all Adil ik either on one side a
fight has broken out over a handful of
mana and an ornamental goblet has been
upset on the other there are two couples
one waits lethargically for the mana to
fall and tastes it doubtfully the other
pounces on it with no thought of others
the feelings conveyed by the group on
the left a more positive and stoical
manly calm and wonder resignation in
illness charity hope gratitude and the
child's serene patience contrasts with
the baby's unbridled appetite this
ambiguity is strengthened by the
background behind the group on the right
two men seem to be wasting their efforts
on the other side the gates of heaven
seemed to beckon whatever the pictures
were religious significance may be one
thing is now certain who say is not
simply depicting ideal or heroic figures
but ordinary people with all their
contradictions people in whom we can
recognize ourselves they sometimes face
adversity bravely but they had their
failings too and even good fortune does
not always content them in other words
Pusa has radically refashioned the
Bible's story he turns this incident in
the epic tale of a people and it's guide
Moses into a dramatic episode and
insists on the moral test which faces
each of its protagonists whose hands
pick
also be seen as a meditation on human
liberty clearly divine help does not
interfere with people's freedom to react
as they see fit
and so in merit or incur blame the man
has salutary arrivals still leaves from
masters of their choices in fact this
picture is Poussin's contribution to
discussion of an issue which obsessed
thinkers in his time the question of
free will does a natural order which
follows ineluctable laws leave room for
human freedom this question was given a
new acuity by the explosive growth of
scientific inquiry in the 17th century
cusan was 16 when Galileo invented his
astronomical telescope and 39 when he
was put on trial at the time when
Poussin painted his manner philosophers
were struggling to preserve the concept
of free will his contemporary they cat
worked on the theory of freedom and free
will from 1630 to 1645 he held that any
idea or passion left human beings
absolutely free to accept reject pursue
or fly from it he argued that this
absolute freedom was their closest link
with God around the same time Cole nee
created the figure of Augustus in his
place sinner august's shows that his
will is free by resisting his natural
impulses and pardoning his betrayers
this is a powerful and unexpected moment
in the play and a perfect example of a
thing which gives us pleasure in a story
the unpredictability of human actions
then indeed regardless of any
philosophical or moral message the
gathering of manna raises the whole
question of freedom in painting the
spectators freedom to regard the picture
from his own freely chosen angle and the
artists freedom to tell a story which
includes some surprises whose hands mana
helps to pin
one of the things that painting can do
particularly well drama and music can
create strong emotions and deliver
surprises but they both impose their own
sequence on their audience a picture on
the other hand is totally instantly
there that gives us more freedom to move
around in it
can Poussin keep these plus points and
still find a way of nudging us towards
the logic of the tale he's telling and
even confounding some of our
expectations Poussin's picture reflects
the influence of a work of major
importance that theory of art the
poetics of the Greek philosopher
Aristotle the poetics dates from a
fourth century BC more or less forgotten
for centuries it was reconstructed from
fragments translated and published
during the Renaissance today it is a
classic text when Poussin painted the
manner around the age of 43
he was a frequenter of intellectual
circles where this work was keenly
discussed in it
Aristotle formulates the basic rules
which a work of art and particularly a
dramatic work of art mr. Bay to be
successful in Aristotle's view the chief
talent which distinguishes the artist
from a skilled craftsman or technician
is his ability to organize a work to
compose a story and so maximize our
pleasure by involving us in the human
emotions he portrays to rival the
greatest poets 17th century painters had
to show that they were not simply
skilled imitators of nature or masters
of perspective but that they too could
captivate spectators by drawing them
into well told stories in other words
the question raised by Poussin's
gathering of manner is whether painting
can equal the effects created and the
pleasure given by the drama let us look
at Aristotle
precepts according to the poetics or
works formal qualities are one of the
main sources of a pleasure it gives us
by formal qualities
Aristotle means the harmony and rhythm
which enliven the parts regardless of
what they express symmetry at the whole
the marked sections of the painting over
which the eye ranges create a certain
harmony but they also give the picture
which is physically static a sense of
rhythm and sequence but our pleasure
must derive chiefly from immersion in a
series of virtual human situations and
logically connected actions this allows
us to recognize and discover the logic
of powerful emotions without suffering
the dangers and discomforts of action in
the real world in this way art genuinely
broadens our horizons seen in this light
Poussin's picture actual aoz us to
witness affecting and alarming
situations famine war without having to
live through them but Aristotle's
demands go further it is not enough to
show us people in the grip of powerful
emotions we must be made to feel those
emotions ourselves a bad place simply
gives us a series of situations and
actions but no sense of personal
involvement
Pusa is thus applying one of Aristotle's
basic precepts he's constructing a story
which is both logical and surprising
even though the pictures
is a miracle everything follows a
logical course the Israelites move from
despair to joy and from joy to faith the
fact that the manors miraculous origin
is not emphasized makes a story more
probable it's credible and potentially
interesting even to an atheist but being
logical does not stop it from being
surprising - it takes some unexpected
turns is not just a tale of misery
giving way to joy that would be banal
and not particularly interesting in fact
the manor turns out to be not just a
blessing but a test and Poussin manages
to inject an element of surprise into
his betrayal of a well-known biblical
scene who sands manna is one of the key
works of classicism precisely because it
achieves what Aristotle sees as the
essential aim of art it uses a
well-constructed story to rouse feelings
of pity fear and humanity in The
Spectator and so having examined
Poussin's picture carefully we can
measure the extent of its success at
first we may find it disconcerting those
swarming figures those sober colors that
barren landscape there's nothing here to
catch our fancy at first glance and yet
who sans aim is to give us pleasure or
his own term delectation that pleasure
is above all intellectual the pleasure
of gaining new insights into others
feelings and emotions and our own
without formulating any theories he thus
helps us to understand what classicism
means in 17th century art he does this
by showing us that rules order and logic
can all add to a picture's effectiveness
the manor measures just three square
meters but it gives us an enormous
amount to look at and think about at the
same time kusa is not simply aping the
theater or the written word he's giving
us an experience that only painting can
give us a moment of intense
contemplation instantaneous ordered and
carefully controlled but leaving us
entirely free to think our own thoughts
and reach our own conclusions
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