Nicolas Poussin's Last Supper

Another work of art for Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Triduum

This painting is a rare attempt to depict an historically accurate representation of the Last Supper, as it took place in Jerusalem, then a Roman province. The scene is set at night, only lit by an oil lamp chandelier, an antique artefact. The room is a triclinium, a Roman dining room with guests reclining on three couches. The painter represents the crucial moment of the Last Supper, the Institution of the Eucharist: Christ, clad in red, has already blessed the bread and some of the apostles are putting the Body of Christ in their mouth. He is now blessing the wine, under the bewildered look of his companions. On the left, Judas is leaving the room without having shared the Bread. On the right, some copper basins evoke the washing of the feet. 

A French artist leaving in Rome in the 17th C, Nicolas Poussin shared the interest of ecclesiastical scholars of the time for the early history of Christianity.