Poussin’s solemn and mysterious paintings of the seven central rites of Christianity occupy their own, specially designed room at the Scottish National Gallery. It is a deeply moving experience to view this ensemble which not only counts as a high point of Poussin’s work but is arguably one of the greatest achievements of seventeenth-century art in Europe.
Born in Normandy, Poussin had a rather piecemeal training in Paris before settling in Rome in 1624. He remained there for the rest of his career with the exception of a brief and unhappy interlude back in Paris working to the command of King Louis XIII from 1640 to 1642. The intellectual rigour and formal discipline of his work, steeped in the study of classical art, appealed mainly to learned private patrons such as the antiquarian, Cassiano dal Pozzo, who commissioned a first set of paintings of The Seven Sacraments which was completed in 1642. That first set has now been dispersed but, remarkably, this second set has remained intact and is on long-term loan to Scotland from the Bridgewater Collection. The seven picturesin the set were painted between 1644 and 1648 for the artist’s friend and patron Paul Fréart de Chantelou, who in 1645 became secretary to the Duc d’Enghien and later a royal steward for the reigning Bourbon family.
Poussin was concerned to depict the rituals with historical and archaeological accuracy, setting them in the context of the early Christian church in Rome. The architecture, the details of furnishings, the facial types and the draperies are all based on the artist’s close study of antique remains and classical art. In all of the seven paintings, Poussin creates the effect of a narrow, stage-like space populated with figures whose poses and gestures are carefully orchestrated to clarify the narrative. The painter apparently used a model stage with small wax figures to help him design his complex compositions. Across the different pictures he achieves a unity of tone, colour and lighting. This consistency is all the more noteworthy since each work was dispatched to his patron on completion so that Poussin himself never saw the full set together in his studio.
In the picture illustrated here, Poussin shows the Eucharist as the Last Supper. Christ has just blessed the bread and wineand told his disciples that these represent his body and blood. To his left, Peter and John recoil as if to illustrate the other key aspect of the theme, Christ’s announcement that he will be betrayed. In a departure from traditional representations of the Last Supper which tend to show the apostles seated at a long table, here they are huddled together in a group and recline on Roman-style couches. The pool of light cast by the candelabrum picks out details of the austere architectural background and highlights the gestures of the apostles. The isolated figure of Judas, cast in shadow, exits to the left.
In Chantelou’s residence, each of the seven paintings was displayed behind a curtain so that they could be viewed separately without the distraction of the others. This arrangement, which met with Poussin’s approval, would have underlined the contemplative nature of these works. Yet for all their discipline, historical accuracy and for all the effort to rationalise the religious rituals, there is also a powerful emotional intensity to these great masterpieces. When the Italian sculptor Bernini saw The Seven Sacraments in Paris in 1665 he told Chantelou, ‘You must realise that in these paintings you possess a jewel that you must never part with’.
This text was originally published in 100 Masterpieces: National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2015.
