070508_Supper_at_Emmaus_Caravaggio_1601.txt

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Caravaggio 1573 – 1610

Supper at Emmaus
oil on canvas (139 × 195 cm) — 1601
National Gallery, London

Caravaggio biography

This work is linked to Luke 24:31

Also known as Pilgrimage of Our Lord to Emmaus. The painting shows the moment the two men finally realise who has been talking to them all day: their deceased teacher.

The man on the right is generally believed to be Peter, because of the pelgrim's shell on his clothes. The man on the left then must be Cleophas; he is the only one whose name is mentioned in Luke's story.

The painting was commissioned by Ciriaco Mattei, a brother of the cardinal Mattei in whose Roman palazzo Caravaggio lived at the time. In 1606, he made another version of this painting.
Almost identical copies of this painting and of The Incredulity of Saint Thomas were found in a church in the French Loire town Loches, in 1999. After investigation it was announced in 2006 that both works were authentic Caravaggios. Both contained the shield of arms of Philippe de Bethune, a friend of Caravaggio's and French ambassador in Rome. Records show that De Bethune acquired four paintings from his friend. Caravaggio often made several copies of his own work.