POUSSIN, Nicolas
(b. 1594, Les Andelys, d. 1665, Roma)

The Empire of Flora (detail)

1631
Oil on canvas
Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

Flora, the goddess of flowers, dances gaily through a garden peopled with characters from Ovid's Metamorphoses, all of whom transform into flowers at the moment of their death and so live on. In the foreground, Poussin includes the figures of Narcissus and the nymph Echo already familiar from his earlier painting.