Poussinist

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The Poussinistes were a group of conservative French artists during the 17th Century.

The Poussinistes defended Poussin's view that drawing appealed to the mind and was superior to color, which they believed appealed to the senses. They were opposed by the Rubénistes who believed that color, not drawing, was superior due to its being more true to nature. Drawing was, according to the Rubénistes, based on reason and only appealing to the few experts whereas color could be enjoyed by everyone. This challenged the notions of the Renaissance when only the educated were believed to appreciate art. (Janson, 584)

Jean-Antoine Watteau is considered the greatest of the Rubéniste artists. Watteau developed the new subject type that the French Academy termed as fêtes galantes. Other Rubéniste artists included François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. The leading woman of the movement was Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (Janson, 584–598).