Poussin, having fallen ill, had been taken into the house of his compatriot Jacques Dughet, where he had been nursed by Dughet’s daughter, Anna Maria, who Poussin marries in 1630.

His two brothers-in-law are artists and a nephew, Gaspard Dughet, will later took Poussin’s surname.

During the late 1620s and 1630s, Poussin has the opportunity to experiment and formulate his own stance in painting with reference to others which he does through study of the antique and works such as Titian’s Bacchanals at the Casino Ludovisi and the paintings of Domenichino and Guido Reni.

At the same time, the Roman Baroque is emerging: in the 1620s, Cortona was producing his early Baroque paintings for the Sacchetti family; Bernini, having established his reputation in sculpture, was designing the great bronze baldachin in St. Peter’s; and an ingenious architectural imagination was emerging in works by Borromini.