Echo und Narziss

Poussin painted this in Rome around 1630, a French artist who had gone south to soak up ancient poetry and sculpture and never really left. The story is from Ovid: Narcissus, who spurned every lover, was made to fall for his own reflection and wasted away beside a pool. Poussin shows the last moment. Narcissus lies dying in the grass, and the pale flowers that will carry his name are already opening around his head. The nymph Echo, who loved him and was refused, sits turned to stone on the rock at the left, able only to watch. The small winged boy with a torch is Love, who set the whole thing in motion.