The Institution of the Eucharist

Poussin had lived in Rome for 16 years and had no wish to leave. In December 1640 he was brought to Paris anyway on the king's orders, presented to Cardinal Richelieu and then to Louis XIII. The king gave him the altarpiece for the chapel of the old chateau at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, which was being rebuilt in the new classical taste after the birth of the dauphin, the future Louis XIV. Simon Vouet had held the court's painting work for years, and the king's remark on the choice was reported as Voila Vouet bien attrape, roughly, that has caught Vouet out. Poussin painted it between January and September 1641, then went back to Rome the following year and stayed. He lit the whole supper with a single hanging lamp of antique shape and left the room around it almost bare.