Poussin's Dance To The Music Of Time

Dance to the Music of Time is recognized as a masterpiece, like most of Poussin's paintings, it is based on a complex iconographic program that was crystal-clear to the work's 17th century patron, but which remains unclear for the modern-day viewer. Many sources agree that Poussin's iconographic source for this painting was a book called Iconologia, written by an Italian aesthetician named Cesare Ripa. This "emblem book," published in 1593, was usually used by artists throughout the 17th century as a kind of guideline of symbols (Artable, Dance to the Music of Time, par. 3). By the time the painting is made Poussin made his transition to his more mature style. He still focuses on historical narratives, but now we can see clearly the influence