Focus Painting: July

July Focus: Illusion

Focused on a quiet figure at the centre, two men are caught in dramatic gestures of surprise. The extreme lighting adds to the sense of excitement and revelations as they realise that the stranger among them is the resurrected Christ.

 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 'The Supper at Emmaus', 1601 

Taken from Saint Luke’s gospel, this is a story about the experience of vision. We are told that Christ’s disciples’ eyes were opened and in the next moment ‘he vanished out of their sight’.

Caravaggio seems to have enjoyed playing with ideas of seeing and believing – a realistic basket of fruit is balanced precariously on the table edge and an elbow appears to push beyond the painting into our own space.

While we are tempted to believe in this image, we are reminded it is only an illusion.

The Supper at Emmaus

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

1601