Nicolas Poussin's Eucharist, considered one of the greatest paintings of the Last Supper, has been acquired by the National Gallery in time for Easter. 

Eucharist (painted around 1637‒40) is one of a cycle of seven scenes Poussin did in the second half of the 1630s showing the Catholic Sacraments (those rites through which divine grace is communicated to human beings): Baptism, Penance, Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Ordination and Extreme Unction.

“This acquisition of Poussin’s Eucharist is doubly timely, not only as the National Gallery begins to celebrate its Bicentenary, but as millions of people across the world prepare to mark the sacrament depicted in it during the Holy Week of Easter,” notes Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay.