Nicolas Poussin and Roman Influences in France The city and art of Rome had an enormous impact on the French Baroque Classical artist Nicolas Poussin and through him an effect on French art and artists in the following centuries. Poussin was greatly influenced by the classical ideals of Italian art and flourished in the art-loving city of Rome that encouraged a young artist to explore his abilities. Nicolas Poussin spent a most of his productive artistic career in Rome and over half of his life in the ancient city. Though Poussin was a known, practicing artist before he spent any time in Rome, it has been said that his succe