Poussin's lesson: Representing representation in the Romantic Age

Abstract

Paul Delaroche's mural for the Hemicycle of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, inaugurated in December 1841, is a piece of pedagogical theater. It was here, in the amphitheater designed by Felix Duban, that students, teachers, and administrators assembled for the official distribution of prizes and awards. Much more than just an amphitheater, the hemicycle stood at the ritual pinnacle of the emulative system that dominated the curriculum of the Ecole and that structured the experience of its students. No wonder Delaroche leaped at the opportunity to execute this prestigious commission, so patently did it offer him the opportunity to confer to future generations of artists the lessons drawn from two decades of high accomplishment (figure 1).