At the Wallace Collection, Poussin's A Dance to the Music of Time has been taken down into the basement. It can be found there until 5 February, holding a position of honour in Dancing to the Music of Time, an exhibition about the life and work of Anthony Powell. The painting is powerful but decorous. Apollo's chariot, high in the sky, drives away the clouds of night. The daylight it brings falls only indirectly on the figures below: four dancers (representing the seasons), Time (whose lyre provides the music), one putto blowing soap bubbles and another watching sand trickle through an hourglass. Art would later tire of Poussin's classical rhythms. One hundred years later Tiepolo made even martyrdom take place in bright light among fluttering drapery.

LRB 26 January 2006 | PDF Download