This would be the most significant old master painting acquired by the Museum.
—Timothy Potts
The painting, the value of which has been agreed at £14m, has been made available to the Fitzwilliam Museum for just under £3.9m, thanks to H.M. Government’s Acceptance-in-Lieu scheme.
Thus far, nearly 10% of this target has been pledged, and the Museum and the Art Fund have today begun their joint campaign to raise the rest of the money.
One of the surviving Seven Sacraments painted in Rome for the renowned scholar and connoisseur Cassiano dal Pozzo, Extreme Unction (‘Final Anointing’) has long been considered by critics to be the finest work from one of the most remarkable series of paintings ever conceived. It depicts a dying man being anointed with oil in accordance with the rites of the early Church.
The painting is of critical importance to the study of western art. Poussin’s work has influenced many great painters from David and Ingres to Cézanne and even Picasso, and continues to inspire artists to this day. Extreme Unction is currently owned by The 11th Duke of Rutland’s 2000 Settlement. As a result of the sale in 2011 for £15m of Poussin’s Ordination to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, the Trustees incurred inheritance tax. To pay for this the Trustees have offered Extreme Unction through H.M. Government’s Acceptance-in-Lieu system, with a condition that it be allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum.
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Image: Nicolas Poussin’s masterpiece - Fitzwilliam Museum
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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