Nicolas Poussin  (1594-1665)

Allegedly, Poussin’s motto was ‘tenet confidentiam’ or ‘keeper of secrets’. What did Poussin know and did he leave any clues in his work?

Young Nicolas Poussin ran away from home when he was eighteen to find refuge in Paris in the Ateliers of Flemish masters Ferdinand Elle and Georges Lallemand. In 1624 he arrived in Rome, the city he had always wanted to work in because of his love for the Italian masters. By that time he had an impressive command of the Latin language and classical literature which didn’t go unnoticed. Cardinal Francesco Barberini became his patron and master. He worked on one of the chapels St. Peter’s Basilica and painted various other works across Rome. Among his later patrons were splendid names like French Cardinal Richelieu and Cassiano dal Pozzo for whom he produced his magnificent first series of the Seven Sacraments.

Both Series of Seven Sacraments by Nicolas Poussin

In 1656 while living in Rome, Poussin received a visit from the Abbé Louis Fouquet, the brother of Nicolas Fouquet, superintendent of finances to King Louis XIV of France. From here the Abbé sent a letter to his brother describing his meeting with Poussin. In this letter he makes the following statement:

‘He and I discussed certain things, which I shall with ease be able to explan to you in detail - things that will give you, through Monsieur Poussin, advantages which even kings would have great pains to draw from him, and which, according to him, it is possible that nobody else will ever be able to rediscover in the centuries to come. And, what is more, these are things so difficult to discover that nothing now on this earth can prove of better fortune nor be their equal.’

The letter was first published by Anatole de Montaiglon in his book Archives de l’Art français (2ème série, tome II, 1862).

Nicolas Poussin died in 1665 in Rome where he was buried in the Basilica San Lorenzo in Lucina. Châteaubriand, French Ambassador in Rome, raised a monument to Poussin above the artist’s mausoleum in 1820. It carries a dedication and a bas-relief displaying his most famous painting The Shepherds of Arcadia. At the bottom there’s an inscription that perhaps answers the question whether Poussin preserved esoteric clues in his work. It states:

‘PARCE PIIS LACRIMIS VIVIT PUSSINUS IN URNA VIVERE QUI DEDERAT NESCIUS IPSE MORI HIC TAMEN IPSE SILET SI VIS AUDIRE LOQUENTEM MIRUM EST TABULIS VIVIT ET ELOQUITUR’.

This curious expression speaks about how Poussin has given his life without really dying. He is silent now but if you’re prepared to listen you can hear him speaking through his paintings.

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Emile-Henri Hoffet (1873-1946)

Renowned Occultist and Paleographist (someone who studies ancient manuscripts). Supposedly Hoffet was the expert that decoded the parchments Saunière brought to Paris and left there. According to Gérard de Sède, Hoffet was staying at St. Sulpice with his uncle Abbé Bieil (who was the director in 1892), when Saunière arrived with his legend in a suitcase. In actual fact, Hoffet was only a 20 year old novice at the time and (according to René Descadeillas of the Carcassonne library) living in Holland at the moment sûprème. Member of the Oblati Mariae Immaculatae, he was nominated priest in Liège (Belgium) in 1898 and only moved to Paris in 1914 where he lived in the rue Blache and died at the age of 73 in 1946.

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A collection of documents and genealogies, deposited anonymously in the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris between 1964 and 1967. The various documents are written under pseudonyms or attributed to people later found to be deceased. Pierre Plantard and Philippe de Chérisey are believed by some to be the authors although they denied any association. Fake or not, les Dossiers Secrets have been a katalyst for turning a local mystery into what is the Rennes-le-Château enigma today. The Dossiers Secrets were the foundation for the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail and many others

January 1964

‘Généalogie des rois mérovingiens et origine de diverses familles françaises et étrangères de souche mérovingienne‘, by Henri Lobineau (pseudonym), presumably named after the rue Lobineau near St. Sulpice in Paris or Dom Lobineau, the 18th century benedictine historian who lived and worked in Rennes (Bretagne). Dated Geneva, 1956

August 1965

‘Les descendants mérovingiens ou l’énigme du Razès Wisigoth‘, by Madeleine Blancasall (pseudonym), presumably named after Mary Magdalene and de the rivers Blanques and Sals that flow through Rennes-les-Bains. The document states that it is translated from the German by Walter Celse-Nazaire (pseudonym), presumably named after the patron saints of the church of Rennes-les-Bains

May 1966

‘Un trésor mérovingien à Rennes-le-Château’, by Antoine l’Ermite (pseudonym). presumably named after the saint who’s statue is in the church of Rennes-le-Chateau. It consists of 9 pages taken out of the book ‘Trésors du Monde enterrés, emmurés, engloutis‘. by Robert Charroux in 1962. It introduces Abbé Joseph Courtaly of Villarzel-du-Razès, allegedly a friend of Saunière who died in November 1964.

May 1966

Addendum to the first document by Serge Roux. The document consists of an article by  Lionel Burrus take from ‘Semaine Catholique Genevoise’, a magazine that never existed and in which Burrus defends Henri Lobineau, which he claims is in fact Leo Schidlof. It also claims Schidlof was given the genealogies by Emile Hoffet.

June 1966

‘Engraved Stones of the Languedoc’, by Eugène Stüblein. The engravings in this book include the two tombstones of Marie de Nègre d’Ables and the Dalle des Chevaliers, which is captioned ‘Stone from the sepulchre of the princes Sigebert IV, Sigebert V and Béra III in St Magdalene’s church‘. Eugène Stüblein was a respected astronomer and meteorologist, who wrote some works on the history and antiquities of the Aude. However, his published works are well known, and there is no record of one called Engraved Stones of the Languedoc. The document in the Dossiers Secrets is a summary by Abbé Joseph Courtaly of Villarzel du Razès from 1962.

17^th January 1967

‘Le Serpent Rouge‘, by Pierre Feugère, Louis Saint-Maxent and Gaston de Koker, who are real people that died between 15^th February and 20^th March 1967. It is a curious, symbolic prose-poem, with 13 stanzas named after the signs of the zodiac (with an extra sign, Ophiuchus the Serpent-Bearer, inserted between Scorpio and Sagittarius). It also contains a series of plans and diagrams relating to the seminary of St Sulpice and the nearby church of St Germain des Pres in Paris.

April 1967

‘Les Dossiers secrets de Henri Lobineau’, by Philippe Toscan du Plantier. It includes the infamous list of Grandmasters of the Priory of Sion from 1200 to the 20th century. Plantier was a real person that was arrested for possession of LSD 16 days before the deposition of the document and most probably had nothing to do with the whole thing.

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Monument des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen

Masonic Monument celebrating the Declaration of the Rights of Men and of the Citizen 1789, Champs de Mars, Paris. The monument was commissioned by the Mitterand government in 1989, 200 years after the revolution during which Lafayette drafted the document for the National Assembly. The enigmatic monument was designed by Yvan Theimer. The heavy iron door carries an inscription ‘Les Bergers d’Arcadie Et In Arcadia Ego’, which links it to the mystery.

You can read more (in French) about this peculiar monument in this article.

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Les Bergers d’Arcadie (Et in Arcadia Ego) / Musée du Louvre, Paris, France

Painted by Nicolas Poussin between 1638 and 1640. Poussin is linked to the enigma of Rennes-le-Château like no other artist. According to Gérard de Sède in his book ‘le Trésor Maudit de Rennes-le-Château (1967)’, Bérenger Saunière bought a copy of ‘Les Bergers d’Arcadie’ (The Shepherds of Arcadia) in Paris some time around March 1892. De Sède however was prompted by Pierre Plantard and Les Dossiers Secrets both of which are under very strong suspicion with regard to the authenticity of what they said. Additionally it is uncertain Poussin ever visited the region. He might have on his travels from France to Italy. However Poussin did produce several works that appear to be linked to the history of Rennes-le-Château.

This painting was actually the second one Poussin painted with this name. Have a look at the first one here.

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