Nicolas Poussin's Painting Holy Family on the Steps On View at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum

Holy Family from the Cleveland Museum of Art Unites with Fogg's Closely Related Canvas by Poussin

CAMBRIDGE, MA (March 19, 2002) - One of the monumental paintings by the French master Nicolas Poussin, Holy Family on the Steps, will be on view at the Fogg Art Museum through April 14, 2002. The painting, on loan from the Cleveland Museum of Art, is paired in this focused exhibition with the Fogg's closely related Holy Family with the Infant Saint John the Baptist and Saint Elizabeth, which represents one of the few religious images by Poussin found in any museum on the East Coast.

"The Art Museums are fortunate to be able to feature the Holy Family on the Steps alongside its own painting by Poussin," said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "This offers our students and interested public a chance to view one of the greatest paintings by a French master."

The current display considers the production and meaning of Poussin's Holy Family images, which comprise two in a series of paintings he dedicated to the theme. They are exhibited with a modern recreation of the sculptural models Poussin employed in the preparatory stages of his work as aids to the study of light and the representation of three-dimensional space. Poussin's unconventional use of such models resulted in pictures of sublime beauty redolent of meaning.

A distinguished scholar and artist, Poussin spent most of his career in Italy. He experimented relentlessly with the pictorial theme of the Holy Family over a period of approximately ten years (1646-1655), producing no fewer than six related paintings, all for French patrons. He insisted on informed critical discourse with prospective patrons about the meaning of his pictures, which in the instance of the Holy Family canvases may be understood as complex spiritual essays.

"The current display of these two paintings in the series affords a rich opportunity to appreciate the meticulousness of Poussin's working methods that enhance the meaning of his images," said Ivan Gaskell, Margaret S. Winthrop Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts.

About the Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums are one of the world's leading arts institutions, with the Arthur M. Sackler, Busch-Reisinger, and Fogg art museums, the Straus Center for Conservation, and the U.S. headquarters for the Archaeological Exploration of Sardis, an excavation project in western Turkey.

The Harvard University Art Museums are distinguished by the range and depth of their collections, their groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of their staff. As an integral part of the Harvard community, the three art museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs.

For more than a century, the Harvard University Art Museums have been the nation's premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and are renowned for their role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

Location and Hours
The Fogg Art Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum are located at 32 Quincy Street in Cambridge. The Arthur M. Sackler Museum is located next door at 485 Broadway. Each Museum is a short walk from the Harvard Square MBTA station.

Hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Sunday 1 – 5 p.m.; the Museums are closed on national holidays. Admission is $5; $4 for seniors; $3 for students; and free for those under 18 years of age. The Museums are free to everyone all day on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, 10 a.m. until noon. The Harvard University Art Museums receive support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. More detailed information is available at 617-495-9400 or on the Internet at www.artmuseums.harvard.edu.