National Treasures
Caravaggio's 'The Supper at Emmaus'
At Ulster Museum, Belfast
Until 1 September 2024
Ulster Museum
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Caravaggio, 'The Supper at Emmaus'
The Supper at Emmaus is in an intimate gallery space, using natural light to bring out the intensity of Caravaggio’s work. The daylight falls from high, north-facing windows reminiscent of an artist’s studio and will mirror Caravaggio’s use of light.
Caravaggio’s ‘The Taking of Christ’, has been loaned from the Jesuit Community Dublin/The National Gallery of Ireland, and it will be displayed to the right of ’The Supper at Emmaus’. The presence of Christ is central to both paintings, and the prominence of the bread and wine at the ‘Supper at Emmaus’ creates a further symbolic link.
Both painted in subsequent years for the same patron, Ciriaco Mattei, and originally displayed in the same family palace in Rome, these paintings will be reunited at the Ulster Museum.
The Ulster Museum’s Discover Art space has been transformed into Discover Caravaggio for the duration of the exhibition. Here, family visitors can explore still-life drawing and gestural shadow drawings, and there’s a chance for the youngest visitors to engage in sensory and imaginary play inspired by the painting, before seeing it in the gallery. There is also an opportunity to see the work of prize winners in the ‘Creative Classroom Award’ – a brand-new art prize for primary schools, created to celebrate the arrival of Caravaggio in Belfast.
