PERRIER, François

Perrier’s style seems to have been formed in Rome on the study of the Carracci and of Lanfranco, in whose studio he actually worked. His Acis, Galatea, and Polyphemus is based on Lanfranco’s treatment of the subject in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, but is treated in a much more picturesque and less classical manner.

Perrier’s style seems to have been formed in Rome on the study of the Carracci and of Lanfranco, in whose studio he actually worked. His Acis, Galatea, and Polyphemus is based on Lanfranco’s treatment of the subject in the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj, but is treated in a much more picturesque and less classical manner.

A number of minor painters in Rome came under Poussin’s spell. Some of them, like Fran�ois Perrier, have had their reputations undeservedly eclipsed, partly because they could not reset including Poussin’s poses in their pictures even though they did not understand the reasons behind Poussin’s adoption of the poses in question. This must not cloud our judgment of the abilities of such painters as Perrier, however, as they believed that they were following the correct models which would lead them to perfection.

In the Greek mythology Iphigenia was the daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Her father lead the Greek forces against Troy. The expedition was at first prevented from sailing by unfavourable winds, so Agamemnon consulted a seer, Calchas. He was told that, because he had killed a stag sacred to Diana, he must propitiate the goddess by sacrificing his daughter to her. Iphigenia accepted her fate out of patriotic motives. According to some, at the last moment Diana substituted a stag for the human victim and carried Iphigenia away to be her priestess. The winds changed and the Greeks were able to sail.