Eucharist (The Seven Sacraments) by Nicolas Poussin

Eucharist by Nicolas Poussin (c. 1637–40)

Nicolas Poussin

Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665) was born in Normandy and worked in Paris before settling in Rome, where he spent most of his working life in Rome. His pictures are built with great care, with clear groupings of figures and settings drawn from classical antiquity, and they were widely studied by later French painters.

Historical context

This picture belongs to the first of two series of the Seven Sacraments that Poussin painted. It was commissioned in Rome by the scholar and collector Cassiano dal Pozzo and dates from about 1637–40. The series stayed in private hands until the Dukes of Rutland bought it in the 1780s; one canvas, Penance, was destroyed by fire at Belvoir Castle in 1816, and the others have since been dispersed. In 2023 Eucharist was accepted by the British government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Gallery, London. Poussin painted a second, different series in 1644–48 for Paul Fréart de Chantelou, now on loan to the Scottish National Gallery.

Religious significance

For the sacrament of the Eucharist Poussin shows the Last Supper at the moment of its institution. In Luke's account, Christ, "taking bread, he gave thanks, and brake; and gave to them, saying: This is my body, which is given for you. Do this for a commemoration of me" (Luke 22:19, Douay-Rheims). The same passage records Christ's words that "the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table" (22:21).

Symbolism and iconography

Christ sits at the centre of the far side of the table, in blue with a red mantle, holding the bread and wine and raising one hand in blessing. Poussin seats the meal in the Roman way: the apostles recline on long cushioned couches, a triclinium, six on either side, some leaning on their elbows, one laying his head down beside Christ. The table between them is laid with dishes.

The National Gallery identifies Judas as the second figure from the left, the only disciple not turned towards Christ. At the far left, a door stands open onto a lit space, and a shadowy figure is leaving through it.

Artistic technique

The scene is lit by candlelight. A lamp with two flames hangs above Christ's head in front of an arched doorway, and a single candle burns on the floor at the lower left, below the couch; the National Gallery describes how these light sources throw shadows in several directions. The walls and columns of the room take up much of the canvas, and the colours are low: the apostles' reds, blues and golds stand out against brown and grey.

The museum notes a pinprick at the perspective's vanishing point and the careful construction of the floor, and suggests Poussin may have used his box of wax figures, lit like a small stage, to work out the fall of light.

The painting today

With this picture the Dal Pozzo series is now represented in the National Gallery's own collection. It hangs in Room 29.

About this print

Made from a photograph of the whole canvas, in its wide format, with the dark room above the table and the two low benches in front of it.

Sources: The National Gallery, London, NG6700 · Wikimedia Commons · Wikipedia, "Seven Sacraments (Poussin)" · Luke 22:14–21 (Douay-Rheims)