Oskar Bätschmann is Professor Emeritus of Early Modern Art History at the University of Bern. His books include Hans Holbein (Reaktion Books, 1997, Revised and Expanded Second Edition 2013) and Giovanni Bellini (Reaktion Books, 2007).

Like Poussins paintings, this is a highly polished work. In prose of great elegance, B&#228tschmann achieves an almost perfect balance between exposition and polemic . . . knowledge of the vast literature, discussed in useful footnotes, is offset by sensitive visual observations. - The Times Literary SupplementThis is a tough but rewarding book, focusing not so much on the context of Poussin&#39s book - its extrinsic framework - but intently on the work itself, and the attitude of Poussin to his subject-matter, from history painting to the holy family, and what B&#228tschmann calls tragic landscape. - The Sunday TimesB&#228tschmann&#39s book is a superb piece of work. His mastery of the existing literature is complete and, in conjunction with detailed visual scrutiny of the paintings themselves, he deploys it with both insight and originality. - British Journal of Aesthetics[This book is] required reading. - Art History