Fitzwilliam Museum’s Public Appeal to acquire Nicolas Poussin’s masterpiece Extreme Unction (c. 1638-40) has been granted for just under £3.9m, thanks to H.M. Government’s Acceptance-in-lieu- scheme.
One of the surviving Seven Sacraments painted in Rome for the revered intellectual and aficionado Cassiano dal Pozzo, Extreme Unction (‘Final Anointing’) has long been considered by critics to be the best work from one of the most illustrious series of paintings ever contrived. The painting has significant value to western art. It depicts a dying man being anointed with oil in accordance with the rites of the early Church.
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