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

The Supper at Emmaus

Room 32

About the work

Overview

On the third day after the Crucifixion two of Jesus’s disciples were walking to Emmaus when they met the resurrected Christ. They failed to recognise him, but that evening at supper he ‘... took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight’ (Luke 24: 30–31).

Painted at the height of Caravaggio’s fame, this is among his most impressive domestic religious pictures. He brilliantly captures the dramatic climax of the story, the moment when the disciples suddenly see what has been in front of them all along. Their actions convey their astonishment: one is about to leap out of his chair while the other throws out his arms in a gesture of disbelief. The stark lighting underlines the dramatic intensity of the scene.

Typically for Caravaggio, he has shown the disciples as ordinary working men, with bearded, lined faces and ragged clothes, in contrast to the youthful beardless Christ, who seems to have come from a different world.

In-depth

On the third day after the Crucifixion two of Jesus’s disciples were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. On the road they met the resurrected Christ, but failed to recognise him. He questioned them about what had happened, and explained that Christ had to suffer in order to enter into his kingdom. That evening he joined them for supper and ‘... took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight’ (Luke 24: 30–31).

Painted at the height of Caravaggio’s fame, this is among his most impressive domestic religious pictures and perhaps his most famous. It was commissioned from Caravaggio in 1601, following the sensation caused by the public unveiling of his first major religious works – the paintings of Saint Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel in the Roman church of San Luigi dei Francesi. The painting was made for Ciriaco Mattei (1542–1614) who, along with his brother Asdrubale (1554–1638), was an enthusiastic patron and protector of Caravaggio, commissioning three works from him in just two years (1601–2): our picture, The Taking of Christ (on indefinite loan to the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), and Saint John the Baptist (Pinacoteca Capitolina, Rome). The Supper at Emmaus soon left the Mattei collection and entered the possession of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, remaining in the Borghese collection in Rome until the early nineteenth century. It is one of three paintings by the artist in the National Gallery – the others being Boy bitten by a Lizard and Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist – and was the first to enter our collection in 1839.

Caravaggio captures the dramatic climax of the story, the moment of revelation when the disciples suddenly see what has been in front of them all along. Their actions convey their astonishment: one is about to leap out of his chair, his elbow jutting out towards us, while the other throws out his arms in a gesture of disbelief. Typically for Caravaggio, he has shown the disciples as ordinary working men, with bearded, lined faces and ragged clothes, in contrast to the youthful beardless Christ who, with his flowing locks and rich red tunic, seems quite literally to have come from a different world.

Although the picture seems to capture a fleeting moment it is nevertheless carefully staged. The artist uses contrasts of light and shade (known as chiaroscuro) to heighten the drama. A strong light from the left falls on the faces of Christ and the disciple on the right, who is often identified as Saint Peter. It casts a shadow on the blank wall behind Christ, almost like a reverse halo, and illuminates the hand which the disciple thrusts towards the viewer, in a pose evoking Christ on the Cross during his crucifixion.

The geometric structure which underlies the composition helps guide our eye around the picture. The back view of the disciple on the left, thought to be Cleophas (the only apostle named in the Gospel), and the other disciple’s outstretched arms, shown in extreme foreshortening, act like tram lines focusing our attention on Christ’s serene face. He and the disciples form an inward-facing triangle, united in the moment of miraculous revelation. Unmoved, and standing outside it, is the innkeeper: his thumbs are tucked into his belt and he looks on impassively with his face in shadow, implying that he has not yet ’seen the light' – a metaphor for spiritual understanding.

The same light illuminates the astonishingly detailed and realistic still life laid out on the crisp white tablecloth – loaves of rustic bread, a chicken, and a basket of fruit teetering dangerously on the edge of the table – and is both reflected in and refracted through the carafe of water and wine glass. The tangibility of these objects draws us into the scene, and because the food and drink seem so real to us, so does the miracle.

As well as attracting the attention of wealthy and influential patrons, Caravaggio made a deep impression on contemporary artists, both for his evocative use of chiaroscuro and for his practice of painting from life. One of his most controversial techniques was painting directly onto the canvas, rather than following the traditional method of working out a composition through numerous preparatory studies. Indeed, not a single drawing that can be firmly attributed to Caravaggio survives. Caravaggio’s paintings were carefully composed, however, and technical examination has revealed that he sometimes drew outlines with a brush (known as abbozzo). Here, there are traces of brushed drawing in dark brown paint, slightly above the finalised contour of the base of the wine glass on the table, suggesting that Caravaggio used underdrawing to lay out the design of the elaborate still-life arrangement.

For the figures, however, Caravaggio only needed a rough guide to place forms. Where the sash of the disciple on the right joins the tablecloth, there are two rapidly executed, highly impastoed diagonal brushstrokes, a kind of summary indication he often used. In many of his works he also incised freehand lines into the still malleable priming (or undercoat) to mark out where figures were to be placed, and presumably to allow models to resume their poses. Although no incisions are visible here, they might well have been faint to begin with or simply obscured by layers of paint – after all, this is one of the artist’s most highly finished works. The lack of significant pentimenti also suggests a high degree of preparation and planning: the only significant change is the repositioning of the same apostle’s left knee behind the carpet, rather than in front of it, clearly done to enhance the thrust of his outstretched arm and the projection of the basket of fruit.

The fact that Caravaggio planned his paintings so carefully does not take away from their startling immediacy and accessibility. Many of his more unusual practices, such as basing his figures on real models taken from the world around him, were aimed at bringing a more convincing realism to history painting, and it was his technical innovations and dramatic capabilities that brought his stories so vividly to life.

Key facts

Details

Full title: The Supper at Emmaus
Artist: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Artist dates: 1571 - 1610
Date made: 1601
Medium and support: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 141 × 196.2 cm
Acquisition credit: Presented by the Hon. George Vernon, 1839
Inventory number: NG172
Location: Room 32
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: George John Warren Vernon, 5th Baron Vernon
Frame: 17th-century Italian Frame

Provenance

Recorded at the Villa Borghese, Rome, in 1650 and likely to have previously been in the collection of Cardinal Scipione Borghese († 1633); listed in a Borghese inventory of 1693. Mentioned at the Palazzo Borghese in 1787. Sold by Prince Camillo Borghese to Durand, with other pictures, on 9 April 1801. In the collection of the Hon. George Vernon by 1831, when included in Anon ( = Vernon) sale, Christie, 16 April 1831 (lot 35), bought in. Presented by Lord Vernon, 1839.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2009

Caravaggio ospita Caravaggio

Pinacoteca di Brera

17 January 2009 - 29 March 2009
2009

Loan to the Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago

21 October 2009 - 24 January 2010
2010

Caravaggio.

Scuderie del Quirinale

20 February 2010 - 13 June 2010
2016

Beyond Caravaggio

The National Gallery (London)

12 October 2016 - 15 January 2017

National Gallery of Ireland

11 February 2017 - 14 May 2017

Scottish National Gallery

17 June 2017 - 24 September 2017
2024

National Treasures

Ulster Museum

10 May 2024 - 1 September 2024

Bibliography

1638

G. Celio, Memoria delli nomi dell'artefici delle pitture che sono in alcune chiese, facciate e palazzi di Roma, Napoli 1638
1642

G. Baglione, Le vite de' pittori, scultori, architetti, ed intagliatori, dal Pontificato di Gregorio XIII del 1572 fino a' tempi di Papa Urbano VIII nel 1642, Rome 1642
1649

G. Baglione, Le vite de' pittori, scultori, architetti, ed intagliatori, dal Pontificato di Gregorio XIII del 1572 fino a' tempi di Papa Urbano VIII nel 1642, Rome 1649
1650

G. Manilli, Villa Borghese fuori di Porta Pinciana, Rome 1650
1657

F. Scannelli, Il Microcosmo della pittura, Cesena 1657
1672

G.P. Bellori, Le vite de'pittori, Rome 1672
1700

D. Montelatici, Villa Borghese fuori di Porta Pinciana, Rome 1700
1763

F. Titi, Descrizione delle pitture, sculture e architetture esposte al pubblico in Roma, Rome 1763
1787

F.W.B. von Ramdohr, Über Mahlerei und Bildhauerarbeit in Rom für Liebhaber des Schönen in der Kunst, Leipzig 1787
1795

L.A. Lanzi, Storia pittorica della Italia, Florence 1795
1797

G.A. Vasi, Itinéraire instructif de Rome, Rome 1797
1831

Christie & Manson, A Catalogue of the Very Capital Collection of Italian, French, Flemish, and Dutch Pictures, of the Highest Class, the Property of a Gentleman Well Known in the Fashionable World, London, 15 April 1831 - 16 April 1831
1843

F. Summerly, Felix Summerly's Hand Book for the National Gallery, London 1843
1845

G. Foggo, A Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery with Critical Notes, London 1845
1847

R.N. Wornum, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1847
1854

National Gallery, A Catalogue of Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1854
1878

H. Blackburn, Illustrated Catalogue to the National Gallery: Foreign Schools, London 1878
1888

E.T. Cook, A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery Including, by Special Permission, Notes Collected from the Works of Mr. Ruskin, London 1888
1906

W. Kallab, 'Caravaggio', Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhöchsten Kaiserhauses, XXVI, 1906
1915

National Gallery, National Gallery: Abridged Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the British and Foreign Pictures, London 1915
1920

J.A.F. Orbaan, Documenti sul barocco in Roma, Rome 1920
1922

M. Marangoni, Giovanni da Milano, Florence 1922
1923

C.J. Holmes, Old Masters and Modern Art: The National Gallery, Italian Schools, London 1923
1930

T. Cox, The National Gallery: A Room to Room Guide, London 1930
1937

A. Rinaldis, 'Documenti inediti per la Storia della R. Galleria Borghese in Roma. III: Un Catalogo della Quadreria Borghese nel Palazzo a Campo Marzio redatto nel 1760', Archivi, IV/3, 1937, pp. 218-32
1947

J. Ainaud de Lasarte, 'Ribalta y Caravaggio', Anales y boletín de los Museos de arte de Barcelona, 3-4, 1947, pp. 345-410
1952

D. Mahon, 'Addenda to Caravaggio', The Burlington Magazine, XCIV/586, 1952, pp. 2-23
1952

M.E. Houtzager and E.R. Meijer, Caravaggio en de Nederlanden (exh. cat. Centraal Museum, 15 June - 3 August 1952; Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 10 Augustus - 28 September 1952), Utrecht 1952
1953

B. Berenson, Caravaggio: His Incongruity and His Fame, London 1953
1953

R. Hinks, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: His Life, His Legend, His Works, London 1953
1955

W. Friedländer, Caravaggio Studies, Princeton 1955
1955

Christie's, Sales Catalogue, London, 20 May 1955
1956

G. Mancini, Considerazioni sulla pittura, pubblicate per la prima volta da Adriana Marucchi con il commento di Luigi Salerno, eds A. Marucchi and L. Salerno, 2 vols, Rome 1956
1956

W. Stechow, 'Review of Friedlaender's Caravaggio Studies', Art Bulletin, XXXVIII, 1956, pp. 61-2
1957

P. Della Pergola, 'Per la storia della Galleria Borghese', Critica d'arte, XX, 1957, pp. 135-42
1958

M. Levey, Twenty-Four Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London, London 1958
1960

C. Gilbert, Figures at a Table (exh. cat. John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, 7 February - 6 March 1960), Sarasota 1960
1961

R. Jullian, Caravage, Paris 1961
1961

V. Lasareff, 'Una nuova opera del Caravaggio', in Scritti di storia dell'arte in onore di Mario Salmi, Rome 1961, vol. 3, pp. 275-85
1964

M. Levey, The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London 1964
1964

P. Della Pergola, 'L'Inventario Borghese del 1693, II', Arte antica e moderna, XXVIII, 1964, pp. 451-67
1965

H. Röttgen, 'Die Stellung der Contarelli-Kapelli in Caravaggios Werk', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, XXVIII, 1965, pp. 55-8
1967

G. Celio, Memoria delli nomi dell'artefici delle pitture che sono in alcune chiese, facciate e palazzi di Roma, ed. E. Zocca, facsimile edn, Milan 1967
1967

A. Moir, The Italian Followers of Caravaggio, Cambridge MA 1967
1967

E. Lucie-Smith, 'Values of Disquiet in a Famous Caravaggio', The Times, 1967
1969

M. Kitson, The Complete Paintings of Caravaggio, London 1969
1971

B. Spindler (ed.), Die Bildergalerie im Park von Sanssouci, Potsdam 1971
1971

M. Levey, The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1971
1975

H. Potterton, The Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio, Painting in Focus 3, London 1975
1976

A. Moir, Caravaggio and His Copyists, New York 1976
1977

C. Scribner III, 'In Alia Effigie: Caravaggio's London Supper at Emmaus', Art Bulletin, LIX/3, 1977, pp. 375-82
1979

E. Steingräber, 'Christus in Emmaus von Matteo Rosselli: Eine neuwerbung für die Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen', Pantheon, XXXVII/4, 1979, pp. 383-90
1980

D. Thomas, Jesus Christ: Sein Bildnis in der Kunst, Zollikon 1980
1982

R. Fohr, Tours, musée des beaux-arts: Richelieu, musée municipal, Azay-le-Ferron, château: Tableaux français et italiens du XVIIe siècle, Paris 1982
1982

A. Moir, 'Alonzo Rodriquez', Art Bulletin, XLIV, 1982, pp. 205-18
1983

M. Cinotti, Michelangelo Merisi detto il Caravaggio: Tutte le opere, Bergamo 1983
1983

H. Hibbard, Caravaggio, London 1983
1983

M. Helston, Spanish and Later Italian Paintings, London 1983
1983

M. Marini, 'Equivoci del Caravaggismo II: A) Appunta sulla tecnica del "naturalismo" secentesco, tra Caravaggio e "Manfrediana methodus"; B) Caravaggio e i suoi "doppi": Il problema delle possibili collaborazioni', Artibus et historiae, IV/8, 1983, pp. 119-54
1985

D. Harris, 'Rebel with a Cause: The Age of Caravaggio, Metropolitan Museum of Art', The Connoisseur, 215, 1985, pp. 52-7
1985

C. Ratcliff, 'On Two Dubious Caravaggios', Art in America, LXXIII, 1985, pp. 138-43
1985

T.M. Thomas, 'Expressive Aspects of Caravaggio's First Inspiration of St. Matthew', Art Bulletin, LXVII, 1985, pp. 636-52
1985

Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Age of Caravaggio (exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 5 February - 14 April 1985; Museo di Capodimonte, May - June 1985), New York 1985
1986

Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
1986

K. Christiansen, 'Caravaggio and "L'esempio davanti del naturale"', Art Bulletin, LXVIII/3, 1986, pp. 421‑45
1986

J. Varriano, 'Caravaggio and the Decorative Arts in the Two Suppers at Emmaus', Art Bulletin, LXVIII/2, 1986, pp. 218-24
1987

M. Marini, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio 'pictor praestantissimus', Rome 1987
1987

D. Carrier, 'The Transfiguration of the Commonplace: Caravaggio and His Interpreters', Word and Image, III/1, 1987, pp. 41-73
1988

M. Calvesi, 'Le realtà del Caravaggio. Continuazione della seconda parte (i dipinti)', Storia dell'arte, LXIII, 1988, pp. 117-92
1989

M. Jaffé, Rubens: Catalogo completo, Milan 1989
1989

M. Gregori, La pittura in Italia: Il Seicento, Milan 1989
1989

A. Moir, Caravaggio, London 1989
1990

M. Calvesi, Le realtà del Caravaggio, Turin 1990
1990

G. Correale (ed.), Identificazione di un Caravaggio: Nuove tecnologie per una rilettura del San Giovanni Battista, Venezia 1990
1990

B. Nicolson and L. Vertova, Caravaggism in Europe, 2nd edn, Turin 1990
1990

F. Cappelletti and L. Testa, 'I quadri di Caravaggio nella Collezione Mattei. I nuovi documenti e i riscontri con le fonti', Storia dell'arte, 69, 1990, pp. 234-44
1990

S.J. Warma, 'Christ, First Fruits and the Resurrection: Observations on the Fruit Basket in Caravaggio's London "Supper at Emmaus"', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, LIII/4, 1990, pp. 583-6
1991

M. Cinotti, Caravaggio: La vita e l'opera, Bergamo 1991
1991

M. Levey, The Later Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, 2nd edn, Cambridge 1991
1991

M. Gregori, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Come nascono i capolavori (exh. cat. Palazzo Pitti, 12 December 1991 - 15 March 1992; Fondazione Memmo (Palazzo Puspoli), 26 March - 24 May 1992), Milan 1991
1992

F. Bologna, L'incredulità del Caravaggio e l'esperienza delle 'cose naturali', Turin 1992
1992

Pinacoteca di Brera, Pinacoteca di Brera. Scuole dell'Italia centrale e meridionale, Milan 1992
1992

A. Prater, Licht und Farbe Bei Caravaggio. Studien zur Ästhetik und Ikonologie des Helldunkels, Stuttgart 1992
1992

J. Gash, 'Review: G. Correale, ed., Identificazione di un Caravaggio: Nuove tecnologie per una rilettura del "San Giovanni Battista", Venice, 1990', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIV, 1992, pp. 186-7
1992

C. Wiggins, 'Caravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus"', in Caravaggio and his Followers in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin 1992, pp. 7-10
1993

D. Ponnau, Caravage: Une lecture, Paris 1993
1993

J.C. Bell, 'Some Seventeenth-Century Appraisals of Caravaggio's Coloring', Artibus et historiae, XIV/27, 1993, pp. 103-29
1993

S. Benedetti, 'Caravaggio's "Taking of Christ": A Masterpiece Rediscovered', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXV, 1993, pp. 731-41
1993

F. Cappelletti, 'The Documentary Evidence of the Early History of Caravaggio's "Taking of Christ"', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXV, 1993, pp. 742-6
1993

C. Gilbert, 'Caravaggio's Other Cardinal', Arte lombarda, 105-107, 1993, pp. 139-42
1993

S. Benedetti, Caravaggio: The Master Revealed (exh. cat. National Gallery of Ireland, 18 November 1993 - 31 January 1994), Dublin 1993
1994

F. Cappelletti and L. Testa, Il trattenimento di virtuosi: Le collezioni secentesche di quadri nei palazzi Mattei di Roma, Rome 1994
1994

M. Gregori, Caravaggio, Milan 1994
1994

E. Langmuir, The National Gallery Companion Guide, London 1994
1995

Caravaggio: Eine Fondacc-Forschung: Verifikation, Hof 1995
1995

C. Gilbert, Caravaggio and His Two Cardinals, Pennsylvania 1995
1995

J.C. Bell, 'Light and Colour in Caravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus"', Artibus et historiae, XXXI, 1995, pp. 139-70
1995

K. Hermann Fiore, 'Caravaggio's Taking of Christ and Dürer's Woodcut of 1509', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXVII, 1995, pp. 24-7
1995

N. Gotteri, 'Un collectioneur Alsacien: Le Baron Mathieu de Faviers (1761-1833)', Revue d'Alsace, 121, 1995, pp. 111-46
1995

A. Marabottini, 'Caravaggio e la collezione Mattei. Qualche considerazione e un contributo', Commentari, I/2, 1995, pp. 62-72
1995

E. Schröter, 'Caravaggio und die Gemäldesammlung der Familie Mattei: Addenda und Corrigenda zu den jüngsten Forschungen und Funden', Pantheon, LIII, 1995, pp. 62-87
1995

J.T. Spike, 'Caravaggio erotico', FMR, 75, 1995, pp. 14-22
1995

E.H. Gombrich, Shadows: The Depiction of Cast Shadows in Western Art (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 26 April - 18 June 1995), London 1995
1995

R. Vodret and S. Benedetti, Caravaggio e la collezione Mattei, (exh. cat. Galleria Nazionale d'arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, 4 April - 30 May 1995), Milan 1995
1996

J. Held, Caravaggio: Politik und Martyrium der Körper, Berlin 1996
1996

S. Macioce, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: La vita e le opere attraverso i documenti: Atti del convegno internazionale di studi, 1995, Rome 1996
1996

M. Clarke, Velázquez in Seville (exh. cat. Scottish National Gallery, 8 August - 20 October 1996), Edinburgh 1996
1997

E. König, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: 1571-1610, Cologne 1997
1997

J. Pelikan, The Illustrated Jesus through the Centuries, New Haven 1997
1997

D. Bernini, 'Asterischi Caravaggeschi', Studi di storia dell'arte, VIII, 1997, pp. 319-24
1997

M. Maccherini, 'Caravaggio nel carteggio familiare di Giulio Mancini', Prospettiva, 1997, pp. 71-92
1997

G.M. Canova, A.M. Spiazzi and C. Valenziano, Incontrarsi a Emmaus (exh. cat. Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, 12 April - 18 May 1997), Padua 1997
1998

M.B. Castellotti, Il paradosso di Caravaggio, Milan 1998
1998

D. Seward, Caravaggio: A Passionate Life, New York 1998
1998

L. Keith, 'Three Paintings by Caravaggio', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XIX, 1998, pp. 37‑51
1999

H. Langdon, Caravaggio: A Life, London 1999
1999

H.J. Hornik and M.C. Parsons, 'Caravaggio's London Supper at Emmaus: A Catholic-Reformation Reading of Luke 24', Christian Scholar's Review, 1999
1999

V. Abbate (ed.), Porto di Mare 1570-1670: Pittori e pittura a Palermo tra memoria e recupero (exh. cat. Chiesa di San Giorgio dei Genovesi, 30 May - 31 October 1999; Palazzo Barberini, 10 December 1999 - 20 February 2000), Napoli 1999
1999

F. Mormando (ed.), Saints and sinners: Caravaggio and the Baroque image (exh. cat. McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 1 February -24 May 1999), Chestnut Hill 1999
2000

C. Puglisi, Caravaggio, London 2000
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2001

E. Gass, Der auferstandene Christus: Bilder zur Auferstehung Jesu, zur Himmelfahrt und zu Pfingste, Tübingen 2001
2001

M. Marini, Caravaggio: 'Pictor praestantissimus': L'iter artistico completo di uno dei massimi rivoluzionari dell'arte di tutti i tempi, 3rd edn, Rome 2001
2001

I. Lavin, 'Caravaggio Revolutionary or the Impossibility of Seeing', in K. Bergdolt and G. Bonsanti (eds), Opere e giorni: Studi su mille anni di arte europea. Dedicati a Max Seidel, Venice 2001, pp. 625-44
2004

A. Bayer, Painters of Reality: The Legacy of Leonardo and Caravaggio in Lombardi (exh. cat. Museo Civico Ala Ponzone, 14 February 14 - 2 May 2004; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 27 May - 15 August 2004), Cremona 2004
2004

N. Spinosa, Caravaggio: L'ultimo tempo: 1606-1610 (Caravaggio: The Final Years) (exh. cat. Museo di Capodimonte, 23 October 2004 - 23 January 2005; The National Gallery, London, 23 February - 22 May 2005), Naples 2004
2005

O. Lange, 'Caravaggio: The Supper at Emmaus', The Artist, 2005, pp. 52-3
2005

F. Bologna, Caravaggio: The Final Years (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 23 February - 22 May 2005), London 2005
2005

J. Levy, 'Between Presence and Absence: Caravaggio's "The Supper at Emmaus"', in L. Boldt-Irons, C. Federici and E. Virguttis (eds), Images and Imagery: Frames, Borders, Limits. Interdisciplinary Perspectives, New York 2005, pp. 267-77
2005

X. Bray, 'Caravage, l'oeuvre ultime', L'Object d'Art, 2005, pp. 88-101
2006

D. Bull et al., Rembrandt-Caravaggio (exh. cat. Rijksmuseum, 24 February - 18 June 2006), Zwolle 2006
2006

C. Morte Garcia et al., Vincencio Juan de Lastanosa (1607-1681): La Pasión de Saber (exh. cat. Sala de Exposiciones de la Diputación de Huesca, 24 April -3 June 2007), Huesca 2006
2006

J. Harten, J.-H. Martin and D. Mahon, Caravaggio: Originale und Kopien im Spiegel der Forschung (exh. cat. Museum Kunst-Palast, 9 September 2006 - 7 January 2007), Düsseldorf 2006
2006

W. Pichler, 'Die Evidenz und ihr Doppel: über Spielräume des Sehens bei Caravaggio', in V. Beyer et al. (eds), Das Bild ist der König: Repräsentation nach Louis Marin, Munich 2006, pp. 125-56
2007

L. Pericolo, 'Visualizing Appearance and Disappearance: On Caravaggio's London Supper at Emmaus', Art Bulletin, LXXXIX, 2007, pp. 519-39

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

Images

Insights

Curator of Later Italian, Spanish, and French 17th-century Paintings, Letizia Treves, guides you through the tumultuous life of Caravaggio. She looks at how his innovative style developed from a focus on nature and expression in his early works to the sophistication of his mature works.

This is a YouTube video player. Below the video are the title and the view time.

Caravaggio: His life and style in three paintings | National Gallery

View time: 30:51

You can't see this YouTube video because you haven't accepted marketing cookies. Please adjust your cookie preferences or watch the video on YouTube.

More works by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

Boy bitten by a Lizard

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

An effeminate youth recoils in pain as he is bitten by a lizard, which clings tenaciously to his finger. In the foreground is a magnificent still life of fruit, with a rose and sprig of jasmine in a glass vase. Look closely and you can see the reflection of a room in the curved surface of the vas...

Room 32

Salome receives the Head of John the Baptist

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio

The story of the death of John the Baptist is related in the Gospel of Mark (6: 16–29). John had criticised King Herod for marrying his brother’s wife, Herodias, and she sought revenge. At Herod’s birthday feast, Herodias’s daughter Salome so delighted the King by her dancing that he promised her...

Room 32