st drawings in India ink brought, at the sale of M. Goll de
Frankenstein at Amsterdam, in 1833, and at that of the late Baron
Verstolk de Soelen, in the same city in 1847, prices varying from L27 up
to L144 each. He inherited his father's drawings, and all these seem now
to be attributed to him.

NICHOLAS POUSSIN.

This distinguished French painter was born at Andely, in Normandy, in
1594. He was descended from a noble family, originally of Soissons,
whose fortunes had been ruined in the disastrous civil wars in the time
of Charles IX. and Henry III. His father, Jean Poussin, after serving
in the army of Henry IV., settled on a small paternal inheritance at
Andely, where he cultivated a taste for literature and the sciences, and
instructed his son in the same. Young Poussin had already distinguished
himself for the solidity of his judgment, and his progress in letters,
when a natural fondness for drawing, developed by an acquaintance he had
formed with Quintin Varin, an artist of some eminence, induced him to
solict the permission of his father to adopt painting as a profession.

POUSSIN'S FIRST CELEBRITY.

In 1612, at the age of eighteen, Poussin went to Paris in search of
improvement, where he devoted himself to studying the best works to
which he could gain access (for the fine arts were then at a low ebb in
France) with the greatest assiduity. In 1620, according to Felibien, the
Jesuits celebrated the canonization of the founder of their order,
Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier, on which occasion they
determined to display a series of pictures by the first artists in
Paris, representing the miracles performed by their patron saints. Of
these, Poussin painted six in distemper, in an incredibly short space of
time, and when the exhibition came off, although he had been obliged to
neglect detail, his pictures excited the greatest admiration on account
of the grandeur of conception, and the elegance of design displayed in
them. They obtained the preference over all the others, and brought
Poussin immediately into notice.

POUSSIN'S FIRST VISIT TO ROME.

While Poussin resided at Paris, his talents, and the endowments of his
mind procured him the esteem of several men of letters and distinction,
among whom was the Cav. Marino, the celebrated Italian poet, who
happened then to be in Paris. Marino strongly urged him to accompany him
to Rome, an invitation which Poussin would gladly have ac