Supper at Emmaus

Supper at Emmaus (Cena in Emmaus) is a painting by Italian Renaissance artist Paolo Veronese. At the Louvre, where it is housed, it is known as Les Pèlerins d'Emmaüs (The Pilgrims of Emmaus). Painted circa 1559 or 1560, it is a reworking of the Gospel story of the resurrected Jesus's appearance in Emmaus as a 16th-century Venetian family gethering. Description Paolo Veronese's Supper at Emmaus is a large 241×415 cm (8×14 feet) oil painting on canvas. It depicts the biblical Gospel story of the resurrected Christ appearing on the road to Emmaus – and being finally recognized by two of his disciples who were on a pilgrimage to Emmaus, as he blesses the bread at a meal they had invited him, an apparent stranger, to. On the far left of the painting is a distant depiction of the journey to Emmaus; it includes the Septizodium, an ancient Roman edifice. As he blesses the bread and gazes heavenward, Christ's head has a delicate halo. Surrounding the table where the three protagonists sit are over a dozen members of an aristocratic Venetian family, in sixteenth-century dress, and their servants. On the floor kneel three children, petting dogs; several other young children stand. A mother holds an infant; her husband stands behind them, and two other gentlemen, possibly his brothers, are in the group. The setting is a classical palace. Apart from the three biblical protagonists and a servant waiting on them, the atmosphere appears secular rather than devotional.