The Birth of Bacchus

The engraving reproduces Poussin’s canvas (Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge) whose theme is an innovative interweaving of several mythological stories. The painting was first described in Poussin’s biography by his friend, the major art theoretician Giovanni Pietro Bellori. Poussin painted the work in 1657 for a close friend and follower, the French painter Jacques Stella. Dambrun’s engraving was published in the second volume of the album of reproductions of paintings from the Palais Royal in Paris, Galerie du Palais Royal (Paris 1786-1808).