The Lustful—Triumphant, Impulsive, Spying, Conquered

Abstract

Poussin explores the full range of lust and uninhibited sexual desire in his mythological works, from jubilant exuberance and celebration of passion in his Triumph of Pan and Hymenaios Disguised as a Woman During an Offering to Priapus, to the impulsive erotic infatuation of Armida in his two versions of Rinaldo and Armida; and from shepherds and satyrs spying upon females in Venus Espied by Shepherds and Landscape with Polyphemus, to lust and love conquered in Amor Vincit Pan and Venus and Mercury. He examines every aspect of desire: love’s triumph, its darker impulses, and finally its defeat.