R. Ruding, Annals of the Coinage (1819) and H. J. Chaney, Our Weights and Measures (1897). (T. A. I.)
POUSSIN, NICOLAS (1594–1665), French painter, was born at Les Andelys (Eure) in June 1594. Early sketches attracted the notice of Quentin Varin, a local painter, whose pupil Poussin became, till he went to Paris, where he entered the studio of Ferdinand Elle, a Fleming, and then of the Lorrainer L'Allemand. He found French art in a stage of transition: the old apprenticeship system was disturbed, and the academical schools destined to supplant it were not yet established; but, having met Courtois the mathematician, Poussin was fired by the study of his collection of engravings after Italian masters. After two abortive attempts to reach Rome, he fell in with the chevalier Marini at Lyons. Marini employed him on illustrations to his poems, took him into his household, and in 1624 enabled Poussin (who had been detained by commissions in Lyons and Paris) to rejoin him at Rome. There, his patron having died, Poussin fell into great distress. Falling ill he was received into the house of his compatriot Dughet and nursed by his daughter Anna Maria to whom in 1629, Poussin was married. Among his first patrons were Cardinal Barberini, for whom was painted the “Death of Germanicus” (Barberini Palace); Cardinal Omodei, for Whom he produced, in 1630, the “Triumphs of Flora” (Louvre); Cardinal de Richelieu, who commissioned a Bacchanal (Louvre); Vicenzo Giustiniani, for whom was executed the “Massacre of the Innocents,” of which there is a first sketch in the British Museum; Cassiano dal Pozzo, who became the owner of the first series of the “Seven Sacraments” (Belvoir Castle); and Fiéart de Chanteloup, with whom in 1640 Poussin, at the call of Sublet de Noyers, returned to France. Louis XIII. conferred on him the title of “first painter in ordinary,” and in two years at Paris he produced several pictures for the royal chapels (the “Last Supper,” painted for Versailles, now in the Louvre) and eight cartoons for the Gobelins, the series of the “Labours of Hercules” for the Louvre, the “Triumph of Truth” for Cardinal Richelieu (Louvre), and much minor work. In 1643, disgusted by the intrigues of Simon Vouet, Feuquiéres and the architect Lemercier, Poussin withdrew to Rome. There, in 1648, he finished for De Chanteloup the second series of the “Seven Sacraments” (Bridgewater Gallery), and also his noble landscape with Diogenes throwing away his Scoop (Louvre); in 1649 he painted the “Vision of St Paul” (Louvre) for the comic poet Scarron, and in 1651 the “Holy Family” (Louvre) for the duke of Créqui. Year by year he continued to produce an enormous variety of works, many of which are included in the list given by Félibien. He died on the 19th of November 1665 and was buried in the church of St Lawrence in Lucina, his wife having predeceased him.
The finest collection of Poussin’s paintings as well as of his drawings is possessed by the Louvre; but, besides the pictures in the National Gallery and at Dulwich, England possesses several of his most considerable works: The “Triumph of Pan” is at Baisildon (Berkshire), and his great allegorical painting of the “Arts” at Knowsley. At Rome, in the Colonna and Valentini Palaces, are notable works by him, and one of the private apartments of Prince Doria is decorate by a great series of landscapes in distemper. Throughout his life he stood aloof from the popular movement of his native school. French art in his day was purely decorative, but in Poussin we find a survival of the impulses of the Renaissance coupled with conscious reference to classic work as the standard of excellence. In general we see his paintings at a great disadvantage, for the colour, even of the best preserved, has changed in parts, so that the keeping is disturbed; and the noble construction of his designs can be better seen in engravings than in the original. Amongst the many who have reproduced his works Audran, Claudine Stella, Picart and Pesne are the most successful.
Poussin left no children, but he adopted as his son Gaspar Dughet (Gasparo Duche), his wife’s brother, who took the name of Poussin. Gaspar Poussin (1613–1675) devoted himself to landscape painting and rendered admirably the severer beauties of the Roman Campagna; a noteworthy series of works in tempera representing various sites near Rome is to be seen in the Colonna Palace; but one of his finest easel-pictures, the “Sacrifice of Abraham,” formerly the property of the Colonna, is now, with other works by the same painter, in the National Gallery, London. The frescoes executed by Gaspar Poussin in S. Martino di Monti are in a bad state of preservation. The Louvre does not possess a single work by his hand. Gaspar died at Rome on the 27th of May 1675.
See Sandrart, Acad. nob. art. pict.; Lettres de Nicolas Poussin (Paris, 1824); Félibien, Entretiens; Gault de St Germain, Vie de Nicolas Poussin (1806); D’Argenville, Abrégé de la vie des peintres; Bouchitté, Poussin et son œuvre (1858); Emilia F. S. Pattison (Lady Dilke), Documents inédits, Le Poussin, in L’Art (1882).
POUT, also whiting-pout or bib (Gads luscious), a fish of the family Gadidae. It is a small species abundant on the coasts of northern and western Europe, but less so in the Mediterranean. It is distinguished from other species of the genus Gadus by having a deep short body, with more or less distinct dark bars; a short and obtuse snout, not longer than the eye; the upper jaw the longer; and a long barbel at the chin. A black spot occupies the upper part of the base of the pectoral fin. Pout affect certain localities of limited extent, where a number may be caught with hook and line. They are excellent food, but must be eaten soon after capture. A pout of 5 lb is considered a very large specimen.
POUVILLON, ÉMILE (1840–1906), French novelist, was born at Montauban (Tarn et Garonne). He published in 1878 a collection of stories entitled Nouvelles réalistes. Making himself the chronicler of his native province of Quercy, he painted its scenery and its life with great clearness of outline and without exaggeration. His books include Césette (1881), the story of a peasant girl; L’Innocent (1884); Jean-de-Jeanne (1886); Le Cheval bleu (1888); Le Vœu d’etre chaste (1900); Chante-pleure (1890); Les Antibel (1892); Petites âmes (1893); Mademoiselle Clémence (1896); Pays et paysages (1895); Petites gens (1905); Bernadette de Lourdes (1894), a mystery; and Le Roi de Rome (1898), a play. He died at Chambéry.
POVINDAH, a class of warrior nomadic traders in Afghanistan, who belong chiefly to the Nasir and Suliman Kuel tribes of Ghilzais. Their name, which designates their occupation, is derived from the same root as the Pushtu word for “to graze.” They are almost wholly engaged in the carrying trade between India and Afghanistan and Central Asia. They assemble every autumn in the plains east of Ghazni, with their families, flocks, herds and long strings of camels and horses, laden with the goods of Bokhara and Kandahar; and forming caravans march through the Kakar and Waziri countries by the Zhob and Gomal passes of the Suliman hills. Entering Dera Ismail Khan district about October they leave their families and flocks, their arms and some two-thirds of their fighting men in the great grazing grounds which lie on either side of the Indus, and while some wander in search of employment, others pass on with their merchandise to the great cities of India, and even by rail as far as Calcutta, Karachi and Bombay. In the spring they again assemble, and return by the same route to their homes in the hills about Ghazni and Kalat-i-Ghilzai. When the hot season begins, the men, leaving their belongings 'behind them, move off again to Kandahar, Herat and Bokhara, with the Indian and European merchandise which they have brought from Hindustan. For generations the Waziris have carried on war to the knife with these merchant traders. To meet the opposition that awaited them on the road the Povindahs used to move heavily armed, in bodies of from 5000 to 10,000, and regular marches and encampments were observed under an elected khan or leader. But since the Gomal Pass was taken over by the British and opened up in 1889 there has been comparative security on the border. During the Second Afghan War the tribes on the Tank border were stirred up by emissaries from Kabul, and the Suliman Khel joined the Mahsud Waziris in their daring raid on the town of Tank in January 1879. Colonel Boisragon, who commanded at Dera Ismail Khan, moved out against the Povindah settlements in the mouth of the Gomal Pass and severely punished them. The Povindahs paid a fine of nearly Rs. 60,000 (£6000), and agreed that in future their migratory bands should be disarmed on their entry into British territory, their Weapons to be deposited in a military arsenal, and returned to their owners when they again crossed the border.
POVOA DE VARZIM, a seaport of northern Portugal, in the district of Oporto; on a small and ill-sheltered bay, 18 m. N. of Oporto by the branch railway to Villa Nova de Familição. Pop. (1900), 12,623. In summer Povoa de Varzim is the most
