Nicolas Poussin and the Seven Sacraments

Abstract

The two sets of the Seven Sacraments are the most important of Poussin's religious paintings.In the first two chapters the relation of the painter to his patrons for the two sets is discussed. The chronology of the associated drawings and the formal organisation of each set are discussed at length. Some new conclusions are reached about the attribution and dating of some of the drawings for the second set. Chapter three is concerned with the sources of Boussin's pictures in renaissance, antique and early Christian art. There is a special section on a hitherto unexplored topic,the relation of Poussin's religious art to sixteenth century book illustration. The first part of chapter four is concerned with interpretation of Boussin's use of the triclinium in penitence and Eucharist of the two sets of Sacraments,with special emphasis on the role of Jesuit ideas in the propagation and interpretation of this motif. Si the following sections the relation between Poussin's imagery and the religious writing of his contemporaries is further explored,with respect to liturgy and ceremonial,typology, symbolism and hieroglyphics. Some new conclusions are reached about Poussin's religious intentions in the Sacraments. These conclusions lead to a modified view of Poussin's neo-stoicism,which has been somewhat over-emphasised as a component of his thought.