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Come and find me...'The Seven Sacraments' audio tour
Track 1 - Find Room 19 Track 2 - Introduction They're pictures from a series called The Seven Sacraments by the French seventeenth-century artist Nicolas Poussin. They're on loan to the National Gallery from the Trustees of the Duke of Rutland, Belvoir Castle, Grantham, Lincolnshire. They show the sacred rites that Catholic priests perform, such as Confirmation, Communion and Marriage. Poussin has tried to show each ritual as something that's both rooted in history, but also still very much part of everyday life. These would have been rites that most people in Italy experienced when these pictures were first painted, in the late 1630s and early 1640s. Poussin was French, but spent nearly all of his working life in Rome. He made these pictures there for his friend and patron, Cassiano dal Pozzo. Originally there were two more paintings in the series - one showing Penance (people atoning for their sins) was destroyed by fire in 1816. Another showing the ritual of Baptism was sold in 1939, and is now in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington DC. That's why, for a series called 'The Seven Sacraments', we've just got five pictures on show here. The series went down really well with Poussin's regular customers another of his patrons asked for his own set of sacrament paintings, which the artist made a few years later (these are now on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland, in Edinburgh). There are all sorts of details in these pictures that bring them to life. Walk back to the dark painting at the other end of the wall, and have a look at the series with me. There's an audio track for each painting, and then three extra tracks that tell you a bit more information about the artist and his methods. See what you think about Poussin's Seven Sacraments. Track 3 - Eucharist It's a key moment. All eyes are on Christ as he blesses bread and wine at the last meal he shares with his disciples. He tells them that the bread is his body and the wine is his blood, and asks them to eat and drink as a way of remembering him. This act is the sacrament of the Eucharist, still practised by Christians when they take Communion. Poussin is imagining what happened the very first time it took place. The dark, overlapping shadows make this a solemn but dramatic scene. Three flames highlight the faces of Christ's followers as they react to this important act. All of the figures have been carefully positioned in a symmetrical composition, their bodies forming a pattern of blocks of colour set into a narrow horizontal slice of the painting. Christ's disciples are lying down in this stark interior because Poussin wanted to be as historically accurate as possible. He has set the scene in a triclinium, a type of Roman dining room that dates from the period when Christ was alive. Also, according to the New Testament, the Last Supper took place during the Jewish festival of Passover - one of the special features of the Passover meal is that people recline to eat it. But one man seems to be only too comfortable - the person next to Christ is fast asleep. This is Saint John the Evangelist. It was believed that he leant his head against Christ at the Last Supper, as a gesture of love and intimacy. Artists sometimes show him as fully asleep. What effect do you think this has on the scene? Track 4 - Ordination It's a beautiful day. Christ and his disciples are discussing serious matters, including what will happen when Christ is no longer on earth. He marks Peter out as a future leader of the church by giving him the keys to heaven and earth. Poussin uses this moment to represent the sacrament of Ordination, when someone becomes a priest, able to offer sacraments such as the Eucharist to other people. Most of the disciples seem moved by the sight of Peter kneeling to receive the keys. The one at the far right, though, looks a bit shifty, and his face seems to have turned as green as his cloak! This is Judas, who betrays Christ for money - no wonder he looks ashamed, and is a sickly colour. Poussin often used colours to express different ideas about people in his paintings: red, for example, could mean courage and passion. He's also used the landscape in the background to emphasise the action at the front. There are thirteen trees in the middle section of the painting, one for each disciple and one for Christ. How do you think the two trees behind Christ and Peter represent their relationship? What about the one above Judas? Track 5 - Confirmation We've all been there. It's an important public occasion, and everyone wants their children to be on their best behaviour. This boy looks as if he's going to need quite a bit of persuasion before he takes part. While some of the women around him smile and gently explain his role, this one in yellow (perhaps his mother) has turned her head sharply round to give him a serious warning. This is Poussin's way of helping us to relate to what's going on in these pictures, by including glimpses of everyday human behaviour. In this scene, members of an early Christian community bring their children forward to receive the sacrament of Confirmation, reaffirming the faith first expressed through their baptism. They are anointed with chrism, oil that has been blessed. Have you noticed that in every painting we've looked at so far, there's been someone exiting the scene, not paying attention to the main action? Why do you think Poussin might have put these figures in - what effect do they have? Track 6 - Marriage They're straining to get a better view of the happy couple. To show us the sacrament of Marriage, Poussin has chosen the wedding of the Virgin Mary. The Bible doesn't say what happened, but this is the sort of biographical detail that later authors provided. A second-century book, the Protevangelium, said that several suitors asked for Mary's hand. It became clear that Joseph was the chosen one because of a sign from God - Joseph's rod, or wooden staff, burst into flower. Some of the rejected suitors on the right look rather annoyed that they've been upstaged by this humble man, especially the young dandy in the green and gold tunic, with his sandals tied in bows. Poussin has used the crowd to make another symmetrical composition, placing vertical shapes in a repeat pattern that centres on the kneeling couple. A dove representing the Holy Spirit hovers overhead as a bishop performs the ceremony. Really, he should be dressed as a rabbi, but Poussin seems to have decided not to be strictly accurate here, because this is meant to represent marriage within the Christian church. The woman in blue whose child wants to be lifted up looks as if she might be pregnant. Why do you think she's been placed so clearly at the front of the painting? Track 7 - Extreme Unction The last rites are being given to a dying man. This is Extreme Unction, when a priest prays for the seriously ill and anoints them with oil. A young assistant kneels by the bed holding a tablet marked with the words of this prayer. At this moment of death, we're also shown new life beginning, through the baby at the left of the scene. People like me also show that the rest of life does go on - there are still jobs to be done. The family cluster around the bed, grieving for this man: his mother holds his head; his wife sits by his feet, sobbing into her hand. The line of her body helps to communicate how grief-stricken she is. So many of the figures repeat this diagonal that it becomes a pattern, like a rhythm that beats across the picture. Poussin's interest in shapes, geometry and patterns can be seen in all of his paintings of the sacraments. As a way of thinking about how carefully each scene has been composed, try imagining how different that picture would look if just one figure were in a different position. Or, use one hand in front of your face to block out a particular element in the picture - see how that changes the whole design. Track 8 - Working Methods Well, he was a very methodical artist. After he'd chosen his subject, he used to read different texts on it and make careful notes. When he started to design his scene, he often used wax models which he could move around until he was satisfied with the position of each one. He would light these little model scenes from a particular angle, and draw what he could see. He then transferred the finished design to his canvas, and painted slowly and carefully, his colours all arranged methodically on his palette. Poussin didn't have any studio assistants to help him, and it was said that he would never negotiate the price of a painting. Track 9 - Personality He has a reputation for being very intellectual, and for having taken himself quite seriously. He also had a good opinion of himself - when one of his regular customers asked for a portrait of Poussin, the artist decided that he had better do it himself, since he didn't think there was a single painter in Rome who was up to the task! But although some of his letters show that he could be stiff and rather pompous, others show that he also had a warm and humane side. He was married, although he and his wife Anne-Marie didn't have any children. Poussin also sometimes painted less serious subjects: some of his pictures of drunken mythological parties suggest that he certainly did have a sense of fun. There are some hanging on the wall opposite - what do you make of them? Track 10 - Arranging the Paintings No one knows the answer to this question. Poussin worked on the series over several years, and we know that Baptism (the canvas now in Washington D.C.) was the last to be finished. But there are no records of them being hung in a particular order when they were first delivered to Cassiano dal Pozzo. How would you arrange these paintings? Would you put the sacraments in the order that you might experience them in real life, from birth to death? Would you decide based on the look of each painting, and how they relate to each other? This is the end of this audio tour, but if you'd like to find out more about other paintings by Poussin, there are several things you can do. While you're here in the gallery, try out ArtStart, our touch-screen multimedia resource for visitors - look on your gallery plan for the location of ArtStart terminals. When you're back home, you could explore other pictures through our website, at www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Both resources have zoom facilities, so you can really get in close to see reproductions of pictures in fantastic detail. Thanks for listening, and hope to see you again soon! Back to 'The Seven Sacraments' audio tour |
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