Embodying disillusionment: Poussin’s blinded giants

ABSTRACT

Extending the traditional view of the giant of ancient myth as the personification of the father, the giant also affords the metaphorical elaboration of infantile fantasies of grandiosity derived from identification with the omnipotent parent. Conversely, the fallen and typically blinded giant embodies disillusionment: with the idealised parental imago, and also with one’s own illusions of omnipotence. Nicolas Poussin’s successive aesthetic interpretations of the giants of Greek legend highlight the symbolic dialectics of size, and offer a window onto the illusions and disillusionments that are intrinsic to generational succession, and accompany the confrontation of various realities—of dependency, vulnerability, maturation, achievement, aging, loss and death.

Dans le prolongement de la vision traditionnelle et mythique du géant comme personnification du père, le géant est aussi le support d’une élaboration métaphorique des fantasmes infantiles de grandeur, issus de l’identification au parent omnipotent. A l’inverse, le géant tombé et aveugle incarne le désillusionnement par rapport à l’imago parentale idéalisée, ainsi que par rapport à l’illusion d’omnipotence propre au sujet lui-même. Les interprétations esthétiques successives des géants de la mythologie grecque par Nicolas Poussin soulignent le symbolisme de la dialectique de la stature et font entrevoir les illusions et les désillusionnements qui, inhérents à la succession des générations, accompagnent la confrontation avec la réalité dans ses différents aspects—dépendance, vulnérabilité, maturation, succès, vieillissement, perte et mort.

Nach traditionellem Verständnis sind die Giganten des antiken Mythos personifizierte Vaterfiguren. In Erweiterung dieser Sicht stellen sie auch die metaphorische Ausgestaltung infantiler Größenphantasien dar, die aus der Identifizierung mit dem omnipotenten Elternteil hervorgehen. Umgekehrt verkörpert der gefallene und typischerweise geblendete Riese die Desillusionierung bezüglich der idealisierten Elternimago, aber auch der eigenen Allmachtsillusionen. Nicolas Poussins ästhetische Interpretationen der Giganten der griechischen Sagenwelt wirft Licht auf die Symbolik der Dialektik von Größe und gewährt Einblick in die Illusionen und Desillusionierungen, die der Abfolge der Generationen inhärent sind und das Aufeinanderprallen verschiedener Wirklichkeiten—Abhängigkeit und Verletzlichkeit, Reife und Leistungsfähigkeit, Älterwerden, Verluste und Tod—begleiten.

Se ci si spinge un po’ oltre la tradizionale interpretazione del gigante dei miti antichi come personificazione del padre, si potrà constatare come le figure dei giganti consentano anche di elaborare metaforicamente fantasie di grandiosità derivate dall’identificazione con un genitore onnipotente. I personaggi di giganti caduti in disgrazia (e solitamente accecati) incarnano invece vissuti di disillusione, sia rispetto all’imago genitoriale idealizzata sia rispetto alle proprie illusioni di onnipotenza. La sequenza di interpretazioni estetiche dei giganti del mito greco offerte da Nicolas Poussin pongono in evidenza il simbolismo intrinseco alla dialettica delle dimensioni, gettando luce sulle illusioni e disillusioni che punteggiano l’avvicendarsi delle generazioni e accompagnano ciascun individuo nel suo confrontarsi con diverse realtà che vanno dalla dipendenza alla vulnerabilità, alla maturazione, al successo, all’invecchiamento, alla perdita e infine alla morte.

Extendiendo la visión tradicional del gigante de los mitos antiguos como la personificación del padre, el gigante también permite la elaboración metafórica de las fantasías infantiles de grandiosidad derivadas de la identificación con el padre omnipotente. Por lo contrario, el gigante caído y típicamente enceguecido encarna el desilusionamiento con la imago parental idealizada y también con las propias ilusiones de omnipotencia. Las interpretaciones estética sucesivas de Nicolas Poussin de los gigantes de la leyenda griega ponen de relieve el simbolismo de la dialéctica del tamaño y ofrece una ventana hacia las ilusiones y los desilusionamientos que son intrínsecos a la sucesión generacional y que acompañan la confrontación de diferentes realidades: de dependencia, vulnerabilidad, madurez, logro, envejecimiento, pérdida y muerte.

KEYWORDS:

• Illusion
• disillusionment
• Ovid
• Nicolas Poussin
• giant
• myth
• Polyphemus
• Cacus
• Hercules
• Orion
• embodiment
• the Metamorphoses

Notes

1 King James Bible.

2 Unless stated otherwise, citations are to book and line of ‘the Metamorphoses.’ I have chosen to use Charles Martin’s (Ovid, 2004) superb translation because of its scrupulous fidelity to the text.

3 Not considered here is another canvas, The Fall of The Giants, whose attribution to Poussin is less than certain (Mahon 1999). Also not discussed is an undated cartoon in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, most likely a preparatory sketch for Poussin’s 1626 Acis and Galatea, and which largely hews to its conceits.

4 While it is of interest to identify textual sources of a painting that appears to lack specificity, we cannot assume that the artist is ignorant of the vast polymorphism of existing mythic narratives. Rather, I would agree with Carrier (1993), who argues that Poussin's Orion is the painter's own invention.

5 The 1636 Hercules’ Choice Between Vice and Virtue (Stourhead, Wiltshire, UK).

6 Of note, Poussin referred to Cardinal Mazarin as “Polyphemus”; it was not a complement. See Olson (2002, p. 79).

7 More recently, Jonathan Swift's Lilliputians bind the sleeping Gulliver, who is of course to them a giant.

8 Consistent with the views expressed of this paper, Gerson (2011) discusses Samson's delusions of omnipotence and denial of vulnerability; Levin (1957) explores Samson's relationship to Oedipus.

9 Michelangelo's David gives a nod to Early and Mediaeval art, in which the physical size of the represented figure is reflective of their importance, a device that gives way to the Renaissance's new emphasis on verisimilitude.

10 See Niniger (1947) for an early discussion of the cultural value given to height.

11 Ainslie (1989) offers a complementary perspective on certain children's toys.

12 This formulation describes but one postulated contribution to narcissism, which I suggest is an aetiologically heterogeneous collection of phenotypically similar presentations (Tutter 2014a).