Gaspard Dughet

Gaspard Dughet (15 June 1615 – 25 May 1675), also known as Gaspard Poussin, was a French painter born in Rome.

Aminta About to Rescue Silvia, c. 1633–35

Life

Dughet was born in Rome, the son of a French pastry-cook ^[1] and his Italian wife.^[2] He has always generally been considered as a French painter, although in fact he never visited France.^[1] Between around 1631 and 1635 he became a pupil of Nicolas Poussin, who had married his sister Anne five years earlier.^[1] Because of this connection he was widely known as "Gaspard Poussin."^[2] After leaving Poussin's studio his works developed a more fluid style and developed his pictures of storms which account for 30 out of his 400 known works. ^[3]

He specialised in painting landscapes of the Roman Campagna^[4] becoming, along with his exact contemporary Salvator Rosa, one of the two leading landscape painters of his time.^[1] He painted several cycles of frescoes, including one, showing various sites around Rome, at the Palazzo Colonna.^[1] He worked with Pier Francesco Mola, Cozza, and Mattia Preti at the Palazzo Pamphilj in Valmontone.^[4] He often collaborated with Guillaume Courtois who painted the staffage in his landscapes. This was the case, for instance, in the works for the Palazzo Pamphilj.^[5] There is another fresco cycle by Dughet, though in a bad state of preservation, in San Martino ai Monti.^[4]

Dughet died in Rome on 25 May 1675.

Influence

During the 18th century Dughet's work became especially popular amongst British collectors,^[2] to such an extent that his name became attached to almost any classical landscape,^[1] and his style proved influential on British landscape painting and garden design.^[2] His Sacrifice of Abraham, once the property of the Colonna, is now, with other of his works, in the National Gallery, London.^[4] Thomas Gainsborough and John Constable were inspired by Dughet and recommended him as a model. ^[3]

His pupils included Crescenzio Onofri (1634–1712/14), Jacques de Rooster (fl. late 17th century) and Jan Frans van Bloemen (1662–1749).^[3]