NICOLOS Poussin's Holy Family on the steps (Fig.2) in Cleveland needs no introduction. The painting has been mentioned in almost all the literature concerning its nearly identical counterpart in the National Gallery in Washington (Fig.3). Much discussion has focused on the relationship of the two versions: is one the original, the other a copy, and, if so, which is which? Or are both originals and if so, which came first? The early sources are of no help, for we cannot be sure that they do, in fact refer to this composition, nor can we link the provenance of either version to what references there are.

IN the Book of Architecture of John Thorpe in Sir John Soane's Museum in London there are several drawings deriving from French sources, of which the greater number are based on or copied from published designs by Jacques I Androuet de Cerceau. Of the few taken from original sources, two show the ground and first floor of the Luxembourh Palace in Paris, adapted by Thorpe to English planning conventions and inscribed on the ground floor plan, 'Queene Mother's howse fabor St Jarnins alla Paree altred J Thorpe 1622', another shows the plan of the Château Neuf at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and is inscribed 'St Jermin's house V leagues from Paris 1600', and another plan is inscribed 'Mounsier Zammet in Paris his howse 1600'. This last plan, also adapted for English use, shows part of the Hôtel Zamet (later the Hôtel de Lesdiguières) in the rue de la Cerisaie, near the Arsenal, in Paris (Figs. 14 and 15).

IN June 1648, shortly after completing his second set of Sacraments Poussin wrote to the patron of that series Paul Fréart de Chantelou:

Je Souhaiterais, s'il était possible, que ces Sept Sacrements fussent convertis en sept autres histoires... (...)

This somewhat cryptic passage - which is a clear expression of Poussin's prevailingly Stoical attitude towards life - has thus far attracted the attention of scholars for two main reasons: firstly, for the light it sheds upon the underlying theme and purpose of the Sacraments and, secondly, for the insights it provides into the philosophical origins of Poussin's Stoicism.

IN his article, 'Sujets sacrés et allégoriques d'après Philippe de Champaigne', Bernard Dorival includes two engravings by Jean Morin (1600-50), which reflect lost paintings of St Peter and St Paul by Philippe de Champaigne. The engravings are inscribed: 'Champaigne Pin.', 'Morin scul. cum Privil. Re.' and bear the appropriate Saint's name. Both depict half-length figures placed behind ledges that form the lower boundary of the compositions (Figs.46 and 47). A painting now on the London art market (Fig. 45) contain a figure identical to that in the engraves St Paul. The ledge employed by the engraver in the foreground is, however, absent and the composition is slightly narrower.

SEVENTEENTH-century French drawings have been the poor relations of the great revival of interest in drawings over the last ten years. A glance at Master Drawings or simple a run through the list of recent exhibitions at the Cabinet des Dessins in the Louvre, will confirm this statement. Of course, the drawings of Callot and Claude, of Poussin and Nicholas Mignard have been seriously studied; yesterday Le Brun, today Pierre Mignard, Le Sueur, La Hyre, Stella and Vouet are being thoroughly worked on and will soon have their own monographs.

THE cavalier way in which some artists' drawings have been treated is as notorious as the care with which others have been preserves. The story of Agostino Carracci using a drawing to clean the frying pan has often been told. Cambiaso's wife is said to have used her husband's drawings to light the fire. Ruskin, going through the Turner Bequest after the artist's death, dismissed several of the later sketchbooks as 'valueless' (fortunately these were not destroyed). However, while may important drawings have been lost through carelessness or accident, we may assume that the majority of those deliberately destroyed were scraps or were drawings with which the artist was dissatisfied.

IN the course of her researches in the Archivio di Stato, Rome, Jennifer Montagu, discovered a copy of an unknown Will of Nicholas Poussin, which she has generously allowed me to publish here. The Will is dated 3rd November 1654, that is to say, roughly midway between the two previously known Wills, which are dates 30th April 1643 and 19th November 1665, the day of the artist's death.

AT the exhibition La peinture franaise du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines recently held in Paris, New York and Chicago, a painting from the Boston museum was shown, representing a carp and signed P. Nichon (No.75). Dictionaries of artists do not mention this painter (whose name makes Frenchmen smile), and he thus remained a mystery to authors who came across him, from Michel Faré to Pierre Rosenberg, who compiled the catalogue entry relating to this picture.