The Code in Poussins Self-Portraits

Written by Gary Osborn 2004.

This article is composed of additional material originally written for the book, Axis of God.

Having partly deciphered the codes in Les Bergers d’Acardie ("The Arcadian Shepherds" versions 1 and 2), which I reveal in full in a forthcoming book, I then began looking closely at Poussin’s notable self-portraits of which there are also two versions.

  The first was painted in 1649 and now hangs in the Gemaldegalerie, Berlin, Germany. The second, which is much more interesting, was painted in 1650 and hangs in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

  It is said that during his late 50s, Poussin finally decided to paint his own portrait – remarking that there was really no other artist in Rome who was up to the task.

  However, in this project, Poussin may have taken the opportunity to encode more information, and it has been suggested that these paintings do indeed contain a code of some kind – ‘each detail cries out for decoding, and each has been interpreted in multiple ways’. [1]

  In the first self-portrait finished in 1649, Poussin wears a black gown as a mark of his respected profession as a painter. He holds a fine metal pen in his left hand crossed over his right which rests on a portfolio or sketchbook. According to Anthony Blunt, an expert on the painter, the ornate background was based on a tomb belonging to a friend of Poussin. [2]

The only detail that came to me straight away in this painting, was the angle of the spine of the book . . . it is leaning at an angle of 23.5 degrees. Again, the ‘spine’ of the book, by which the book is held together, provides a perfect metaphor for the earth’s polar axis - being the 'spine' of our world. We shall return to this painting later.

  This angle of 23.5º – which appears to be based on the angle (obliquity) of the earth’s axis – is telling us that he (Poussin) possesses this knowledge – hence the book.

  As we will see, this same angle also features prominantly in the second self-portrait, painted some months later – dated 1650.

In the first painting Poussin’s expression is much softer and friendly and one can almost detect a contented smile. In the second portrait, Poussin adopts a sterner and more intense look. Like the first, Poussin’s head is half in shadow as if bringing attention to the esoteric significance of the two sides of the brain associated with the masculine-related, Sun and the feminine-related, Moon. Again Poussin wears a dark gown, this time with a stole thrown over his right shoulder. There are three paintings stacked behind the painter. They block the doorway as if we are being told they are the “key” to the door and one must first decipher the code contained in their peculiar arrangement. The way these paintings are positioned does indeed suggest the word “code!”

  The canvas just behind Poussin bears only a Latin inscription:

 EFFIGIES NICOLAI POUSSINI ANDEL

 YENSIS PICTORIS, ANNO AETATIS 56

  ROMAE ANNO JUBILEI

  1650.

(Portrayal of Nicolas Poussin of Les Andalys, done at Rome during the Jubilee Year of 1650, aged 56 years).

Many have already commented on the ring (absent in the first self-portrait) worn by Poussin on the small finger of his right hand that is again resting on top of a bound portfolio or sketchbook. The ring has a four-sided diamond stone in the centre which glints in the light and looks like a pyramid viewed from above.