A Dance to the Music of Time (painting)
| A Dance to the Music of Time | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Artist | Nicolas Poussin |
| Year | 1634-1635 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 82.5 cm × 104 cm (32.5 in × 41 in) |
| Location | Wallace Collection, London |
A Dance to the Music of Time is a painting by Nicolas Poussin in the Wallace Collection in London. It was painted between 1634 and 1636 as a commission for Giulio Rospigliosi (later Pope Clement IX), who according to Gian Pietro Bellori dictated its detailed iconography. It is best known for giving its name to the novel cycle of the same name, though this title is first seen in a Wallace Collection catalogue of 1913, before which it was given more prosaic titles referring to the Four Seasons. In the 1845 sale it was called La Danse des Saisons, ou l'Image de la vie humaine. It passed from the Rospigliosi family to the Fesch collection in 1806, when it was taken to France for a period, and was bought along with several other paintings by Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford in the great Fesch sale in Rome in 1845, passing to his son Sir Richard Wallace.
Four figures, holding each other by the hand, dance in a circle, as Time plays a lyre on the right. The scene is set in the early morning, with Aurora, goddess of dawn, preceding the chariot of Apollo the sun-god in the sky behind; the Hours accompany him and he holds a ring representing the Zodiac. According to Bellori, Rospigliosi's original idea was inspired by Boitet de Frauville's 'Les Dionysiaques', which describes the passing of time and the cycle of the seasons. According to this story, the god Jupiter (Greek Zeus) gave Bacchus and wine to the world in order to compensate for the miserable living conditions mortals must endure after Time and the Seasons complained. The male dancer with the crown of twigs was originally intended to represent the god Bacchus as well as the season Autumn, followed by Winter, Spring and Summer. As Poussin developed the painting, however, this theme gradually transformed into the concept of the cycle of life and fortune.
...
Wikipedia