Every Friday we take a break from our regular blogging schedule to allow the authors an opportunity to feature a certain topic they are passionate about. In the past you’ve read about art, studying abroad, experiencing culture through food, and the great burger adventure. Through this and other future posts we hope you’ll enjoy reading, we hope to share with you our personalities, passions, and interests on a more personal level.
As part of our continuing desire to bring beauty into focus, From Texas to Beyond will periodically feature brilliant pieces of art that have influenced our lives. We are excited to showcase these universal works of beauty with you.
Today, we conclude the two-part miniseries examining the Caravaggio painting from The National Gallery in London. As I mentioned in my first post in the Chasing Caravaggio Series, I am on a quest to view all of Caravaggio’s masterpieces firsthand. Thanks to a short layover at London Heathrow I found three more in The National Gallery.
Picking up where we left off during the previous Chasing Caravaggio, I was standing before three great works of art by Caravaggio in The Nation Gallery in London. While the first two pieces, Boy bitten by a Lizard and Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist were delightful, my favorite of the three now had my full attention.
The Supper at Emmaus
Caravaggio’s The Supper at Emmaus – Courtesy of Wikipedia
The final and greatest Caravaggio painting in The National Gallery, The Supper at Emmaus, was much large than I expected. The scale of the painting accentuates the viewer’s ability to enter into the scene as Christ stretches his hand out of the painting’s surface, directly to us.
Caravaggio expertly captures this most dramatic moment of the story (See Luke 24: 13-36). In the painting, the risen Christ reveals himself to two disciples while blessing the bread, the holy sacrament of Communion. The two disciples at the table suddenly and dramatically recognize the man dining with them. He is Jesus, risen from the dead! In a moment, Jesus will vanish from their sight.
Many critics of Caravaggio’s time disliked this representation of Luke’s Gospel account. The critics could not understand why Christ appears beardless in this picture. Is it possible that Caravaggio omitted Jesus’ beard after reading Mark’s abbreviated version of the same account? Mark 16:12 states “After these things [Jesus] appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country” (ESV).
A second complaint from the critics involved the fourth figure, standing in the background. Why is the inn keeper, waiting on the three men at the table, not humbled before Christ? Perhaps the inn keeper does not recognize the significance of the act taking place in front of him. Caravaggio seems to ask, “Is it possible to witness a miracle, and not understand?”
I love the disciple on the left. You can see the surprise in his hands as he grips the chair’s arms, exposing a small tear in his tunic. This man realizes a miracle is taking place before him, and acts accordingly. He is caught in the act of standing to attention, his personal response to Jesus. The emotions are amazingly vivid for a two-dimensional work of art.
The disciple on the right is an impressive artistic accomplishment. His outstretched arms accentuate his personal response to Jesus, but also represents several feet of depth in the painting. Caravaggio even seems to blur his right hand, making it seem even further from the man’s left hand, which is perfectly in focus.
Look for a few more details: Caravaggio hides additional symbolism in the shadows. Above Jesus’ head, a shadow appears like a dark halo, signifying the divinity of Christ. Do you see a fish in the painting? Almost without realizing it, there is a splendid still life artwork in the foreground. To the right of the basket of fruit, a shadow on the table looks like a fish’s tale, a symbol of the early Christians. I do not think this shadow is a coincident.
I could have studied these three masterpieces for hours, but we only had a few minutes. Our flight to Prague was approaching, and we still had to get back to London Heathrow. Taking one last look, I left satisfied. I knew three more Caravaggio paintings would be waiting for me in the Louvre.
If you are unfamiliar with Caravaggio, click the link for some background on the life of Caravaggio.
For more information on the National Gallery and its permanent collection, see our overview of The National Gallery.
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