The Seven Sacraments (2 series)

Poussin painted two sets of the Seven Sacraments, the first for Cassiano dal Pozzo, his scholarly and benevolent and patron in Rome, the second for his faithful friend, Paul Fréart de Chantelou. The dates of execution for this first set are unknown, but they were not completed until 1642, when the final one was sent by Poussin from Paris to Rome. The paintings of the second series were executed between 1644 and 1648. They belong to the paintings produced during the ten years after Poussin's return to Rome, which were regarded in his own time as his most perfect, and which are now considered to be among the purest embodiments of French classicism.

The Sacraments, a microcosm of Poussin's art, reveal his working methods. It is known that he kept a small box rather like a miniature theatre, in which he arranged wax models and altered the lighting in order to help him with the layout of his complex compositions. He then made numerous rough drawings, trying out the compositions until the final solution was reached. It is easy to see that all the interior scenes of the Sacraments are arranged like a theatrical tableau, which gives them their curiously static quality and enhances their gravity.