Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin was the 17th-century French painter who was so enamored with the classical world, he spent most of his career in Rome. A true intellectual, he favored a rational and ordered approach to his mythological and religious scenes. Rumor has it he was a bit of a control freak in his artistic process, allegedly creating tiny wax figures and arranging them in a box to get the composition just right. This "philosopher painter" was not known for a lavish lifestyle. An anecdote tells of a cardinal who, upon being escorted by Poussin holding a lamp, expressed pity for the artist's lack of servants. Poussin is said to have retorted, "And I pity you much more, my lord, for having so many." Though he had a brief and miserable stint as First Painter to the King in Paris, he quickly returned to his beloved Rome, cementing his legacy as a master of the French classical tradition.