SCUOLA FRANCESE, CIRCA 1820

French School, circa 1820 ALLEGORY OF TIME (AFTER POUSSIN) FRENCH SCHOOL, CIRCA 1820 Oil on cardboard, laid down on canvas. 42 × 32.5 cm; with frame 56 × 47 cm In 18th-century French carved and gilded frame, in excellent condition. PROVENANCE Private collection, France. This evocative painting represents a fragmentary reprise of the figure of Time (Chronos), originally depicted by Nicolas Poussin in his famous painting A Dance to the Music of Time (c. 1634–1636, Wallace Collection, London). In Poussin's composition, Chronos sits on the right, playing a lyre while the Seasons dance in a circle, led by celestial music. The figure symbolizes the inexorable flow of time and the cyclical nature of human life. Our painting reproduces almost exactly this winged personification of Time, including the posture, attributes, and even the hourglass held by the putto at his feet. The stylistic characteristics, such as the treatment of the complexions and the sculptural clarity of the forms, point to a French hand active in the early decades of the 19th century. It is very likely that the work was created in France shortly after Poussin's original entered the collection of Cardinal Joseph Fesch, which occurred in 1806. The Fesch collection, known for its vastness and wealth of works by the great masters, was widely studied and copied by contemporary artists. After the cardinal's exile in 1815, many works remained accessible in France, offering painters the opportunity to reproduce or reinterpret famous paintings. Although unsigned, the painting can be cautiously attributed to an artist close to Cardinal Fesch's circle or active in the Parisian art scene of the post-Napoleonic era. It is most likely a painter who had privileged access to Fesch's collection and who developed a deep sensitivity to 17th-century French painting through the direct study of its masterpieces. The work is framed in a magnificent 18th-century French frame, finely carved and gilded, which enhances its classical elegance and gives it a solemn presence in keeping with the ideals of historical painting.