Painting: The Supper At Emmaus

~ beetleypete

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio; 29 September 1571 – 18 July 1610), known mononymously as Caravaggio, was an Italian painter active in Rome for most of his artistic life. During the final four years of his life, he moved between Naples, Malta, and Sicily until his death. His paintings have been characterized by art critics as combining a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, which had a formative influence on Baroque painting.

I was attracted to his work by the wonderful depiction of light, and some paintings also include very realistic details, like the one I have chosen today showing food and fruit that looks real enough to take from the canvas and eat.

Painted in 1601, 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.

37 thoughts on “Painting: The Supper At Emmaus”

  3. Light. That was the holy grail for painters. I am dumbfounded at how a masterpiece like this was painted in 1601. What did he use for paints and tools? Did you know that Michelangelo painted frescos on the walls in the Palazzo Vecchio, then hated what he painted (Mr. Picky) and had a new wall put in over the old wall with the fresco. There is space between, so the fresco is literally ‘new’.

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  7. Pingback: Painting: The Supper At Emmaus | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

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