Siân Lewis created this video as a result of collaborating with Andrew Lacey on work commissioned by The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge to re-create a method Nicolas Poussin used to make the initial composition for some of his paintings. This work specifically relates to the painting Extreme Unction(1642) and is part of the exhibition ‘Silent Partners’. It illustrates how Poussin would have used a wooden box, known as the ‘Grande Machine’, to create experimental three dimensional compositions to paint from. This machine resembled a ‘scaled down theatre’ which he used to control the direction of light and back-ground settings.
Music 'Her Eyes are Underneath the Ground' © Antony and the Johnsons from the album The Crying Light