The seven sacraments (Poussin)

The seven sacraments is the title of two seven-part series of pictures by the French baroque painter Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665). Its theme is the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church . Both cycles were commissioned in Rome for private patrons: the first in the years 1636 to 1642 for Cassiano Dal Pozzo , the second after Poussin's return from Paris between 1644 and 1648 for Paul Fréart de Chantelou .

Style and reception

Poussin painted the oil paintings in the style typical of antiquity and renaissance - above all Raphael - orientated classical , linear baroque . They are designed as idealized history paintings. The significance of the event is emphasized by landscape and architectural elements, theatrical gestures and multi-layered symbolism . In contrast, Poussin dispenses with the visualization of individual emotions and religious ecstasy. The compositions of the second series are partly based on those of the first, but are even more solemn and statuary compared to it.

The tradition testifies to the admiration of contemporaries that Gian Lorenzo Bernini sank on his knees while looking at the paintings as he did before the holy of holies . The pictures were copied early on as copperplate engravings and were thus widely used.

Museums

The sacrament of penance from episode one was destroyed in a fire at Belvoir Castle , Leicestershire , in 1816. The baptism was acquired by the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1939 . The ordination was purchased in 2011 by the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth for $ 24.3 million. The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge acquired the Last Unction in 2013 . The remaining three works of the first cycle are still in the possession of the Duke of Rutland and are in Belvoir Castle.

The second episode is on display at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh .

Scenes

The pictures in the first series are 95 × 121 cm, those of the second 117 × 178 cm.

Picture theme	first series	second series	scene
baptism			Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist
Confirmation			Apostles anoint the foreheads of adults and children with chrism .
Eucharist			Jesus with the disciples in the Upper Room
Buses			Meeting of Jesus with the sinner in the house of the Pharisee Simon ( Lk 7.36-50  EU )
Extreme unction			Apostles perform the “last unction” on a dying person ( Jak 5,14–15  EU ).
marriage			Engagement of Mary and Joseph
Ordination			Handing over the keys to Peter ( Mt 16 : 18-19  EU )

literature

• Wolfgang von Löhneysen : The iconographic and intellectual-historical prerequisites of the “Seven Sacaments” of Nicolas Poussin . In: Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte 1952, pp. 133–150

Web links

Commons : The Seven Sacraments (Poussin)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The seven sacraments (1st series for Dal Pozzo) sandrart.net
• The seven sacraments (2nd series for Chantelou) sandrart.net
• Poussin's Sacraments (2nd series for Chantelou) National Galleries of Scotland (English)