Victory of Joshua over the Amalekites

Nicolas Poussin composed this Victory of Joshua over the Amalekites around 1625 during his early years in Rome. The biblical battle scene sprawls across the canvas with chaotic energy, following a zigzagging diagonal that pulls the eye through the struggle.

Poussin produced this work as a pendant to The Battle between the Israelites and the Amorites. After his patron Giovan Battista Marino died in 1625, financial difficulties forced Poussin to sell both paintings. Catherine II of Russia later acquired them. The canvas measures 97.5 by 134.3 centimeters and resides at the Hermitage Museum.