Between Coloris and Dessein

Abstract

Charles de La Fosse is associated with two defining, if opposed, poles of Academic theory and practice: the dessein camp associated with the practice and theory of Charles Le Brun; and the coloris camp, associated with the theory of Roger de Piles and the practice of Antoine Watteau. In this paper I will analyse La Fosse’s Assumption of the Virgin (Musée Magnin), looking specifically at its invocation of works by Poussin of the late 1620s and early 1630s. Rather than focusing on the differences between the dessein and the coloris camps, this paper will consider how the two theories might have found pictorial expression in the works of Poussin. I argue that La Fosse broadened the understanding of Poussin’s work beyond Le Brun’s theoretical framework. La Fosse’s work might be viewed as a practical intervention in theoretical debates, one that reconciled two seemingly opposed camps

Keywords

• coloris
• dessein
• Academic theory
• Assumption
• Poussin