By the mid -1630s, Poussin had finally discovered his mature style as he executed works such as Massacre of the Innocents. He still continued to focus on historical narratives, but now the influence of Classical art can be seen even more clearly than in his previous paintings.
Compositions, though often still crowded, are now even more orderly and rationally composed, contours become even more pronounced and sharper-edged, and Poussin perfects his use of the "rhetorical gesture," which he derived from the writings of classical orators.
Poussin's style changed after he had the opportunity to carefully study the masterpieces of antique art in Rome. In Poussin's mature period, Greco-Roman friezes, antique statues, and ancient philosophy were his most important influences. Masters of the Italian Renaissance were also an important influence, especially Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci.
Poussin was neither the symbol of 17th century French painting and painter of the establishment, nor was he completely devoid of Baroque dynamism and emotion. Poussin himself would hardly have cared whether or not he was adored or reviled, however.
This artist, a fervent believer in Stoicism, appears to have been interested in little more than his studies and his painting; fame and wealth were but mere secondary concerns. Poussin's sober personality and his carefully thought out theories of art have earned him the nickname of "the philosopher painter."
Poussin's reputation as a cold, cerebral artist of the intellect, is certainly deserved, but only to a point: as classically detached and coolly rational as Poussin's paintings may be, a closer look at this French Baroque artist's oeuvre reveals that they are also so much more.