Supper at Emmaus 1601-02

Supper at Emmaus is one of Caravaggio's most iconic religious works, created in 1601, and is one of the masterpieces of Caravaggio's use of chiaroscuro. The work is now in the National Gallery in London, England.

Supper at Emmaus is based on a biblical story and depicts the disciples having a meal with the risen Jesus Christ. In this scene, the disciples discuss the resurrection of Christ after his death before dinner, and Christ is said to have appeared in the village of Emmaus shortly after the killing took place. A strange man sitting next to the disciples suddenly speaks up and gives everyone a piece of bread as gratitude for inviting him to eat with them. At this moment, the disciple's eyes lit up in surprise, and they discovered that the stranger was the risen Christ. In his work, Caravaggio expressed the moment when the disciples expressed their shock at Christ's resurrection. To enhance the dramatic effect of the painting, Caravaggio depicted a light shining on Christ's face from the left side, while a standing figure is painted behind Christ to make him more prominent, and Christ in red is undoubtedly the visual center of the picture. The periphery of the picture is dim, and only the lamp on the table is illuminated. This strong contrast between light and dark is the "chiaroscuro" technique invented by Caravaggio.

In terms of the treatment of the figure, Supper at Emmaus is completely different from that depicted by other painters of the same period. Christ is depicted as a handsome face, neatly dressed and intelligent young man. A disciple leans forward, listening carefully to Christ's words, and slaps his hands on the handle of his chair as if he were standing up at once, excitedly. The white-bearded man on the far right of the picture with open hands also sets the mood of surprise. Caravaggio used the technique of the Trompe-l'œil style in this painting. The open arms of the old man give viewers a sense of deep space. The painting is composed in the pyramidal style common in the Renaissance, with the head of Christ as the center, the outstretched arms forming a straight line with the disciple on the left, while the two seated disciples form a stable and open triangle. This helps to highlight the visual image of the picture and facilitates the viewer's emotional communication with its content.

Caravaggio's greatness also lies in the great importance he attached to "objects". Ordinary objects in daily life, such as fruits, flowers, bread, musical instruments, wicker baskets, and clothes, can bring people beauty and brilliance above their value. The fruit basket halfway around the table's edge makes viewers want to reach out and hold it, rendering the surprise and excitement in the painting. On closer inspection, there are visible black spots on the apples and moldy spots on the grapes as time passes, and the fruit has lost its original luster. This is the same material and technique as his 1597 painting Fruit basket, and more importantly, it is faithful to the true state of fruits without any embellishment. The decaying fruit and the split pomegranate in the painting also express the fact that things in this world will eventually be destroyed, but only the divinity and spirit of Christ will remain in the world forever. In a departure from the traditional image of the well-dressed man in religious paintings, Caravaggio secularized the religious subject matter by incorporating ordinary people in their lives, even those of the lower classes in rags. He was faithful to reality and insisted on the realistic approach to "people" and "things" in his paintings. This realistic approach was extremely advanced and daring at the time and was not popular, so his paintings were often rejected. However, it was this pioneering and original spirit that made him great. The realistic painting style he pioneered proved to be influential for centuries, inspiring and informing many of the masters of paintings of later generations.

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