Supper at Emmaus (Caravaggio, London)
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Supper at Emmaus | |
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Oil on canvas | |
Dimensions | 141 cm × 196.2 cm (56 in × 77.2 in) |
Location | National Gallery, London |
The Supper at Emmaus is a painting by the Italian
Originally this painting was commissioned and paid for by Ciriaco Mattei, brother of cardinal Girolamo Mattei.
Description
The painting depicts the moment when the resurrected but incognito Jesus reveals himself to two of his disciples (presumed to be Luke and Cleopas) in the town of Emmaus, only to soon vanish from their sight (Gospel of Luke 24: 30–31). Cleopas wears the scallop shell of a pilgrim. The other apostle wears torn clothes. Cleopas gesticulates in a perspectively-challenging extension of arms in and out of the frame of reference. The standing groom, forehead smooth and face in darkness, appears oblivious to the event. The painting is unusual for the life-sized figures, the dark and blank background. The table lays out a still-life meal with the basket of food teetering over the edge.
In the
Christian symbolism
The basket of fruit in the foreground has two stray strands of wicker that form an ichthys, the early Christian fish-symbol for Christ.[1] The shadow of the fruit on the tablecloth forms the body of a fish and fishtail.[1]
Milan version
Caravaggio painted another version of the
This difference possibly reflects the circumstances of Caravaggio's life at that point (he had fled Rome as an outlaw following the death of Ranuccio Tomassoni), or possibly, recognising the ongoing evolution of his art, in the intervening five years he had come to recognise the value of understatement.
See also
External videos | |
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Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus, Smarthistory[3] |
- The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece, 2005 book by Jonathan Harr
- Supper at Emmaus, a list of comparable works
- List of paintings by Caravaggio
References
- ^ a b Grovier, Kelly (18 June 2021). "The Supper at Emmaus: A coded symbol hidden in a masterpiece". BBC. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ISBN 8835958717.
- ^ "Caravaggio's Supper at Emmaus". Smarthistory at Khan Academy. Archived from the original on October 11, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2013.
Further reading
External links
Painters of reality: The legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardy Archived 2013-05-13 at the Wayback Machine, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this painting (see index)
- Media related to Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio (London) at Wikimedia Commons