"Louis Marin considered the paintings and the writings of Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), painter and theoretician of painting, an enduring source of inspiration. Since Marin did not live to write his proposed book on Poussin, the ten major essays in this volume will remain his definitive statement on the painter who inspired his most eloquent and probing commentary."--BOOK JACKET. "At the center of Marin's inquiry into Poussins art are the theory and practice of "reading" paintings. Rather than explicate Poussin's work through systematic textual and iconographic analysis, he sets out to explore a cluster of speculative questions about the meaning of pictorial art: Can painting be a discourse? If so, how can that discourse be deciphered?"--BOOK JACKET. "At his death in 1992, Louis Marin was Directeur d'Etudes at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris."--BOOK JACKET.