The Supper at Emmaus

Jacopo Bassano was one of the most famous and influential masters of the late Renaissance in Italy, admired for his luminous color and sensitively observed incidents from everyday life. Trained by his father in the north Italian town of Bassano del Grappa, he worked in neighboring Venice in the early 1530s. His youthful works reflect the influence of Titian and other north Italian masters, along with artists ranging from Raphael to Dürer, whose compositions he knew through prints. Already by the late 1530s his powers of invention rivaled those of his contemporaries Tintoretto and Veronese. The Kimbell Supper at Emmaus depicts Christ’s miraculous appearance after the Resurrection (Luke 24:30–31). In the act of blessing and breaking bread at the inn, Christ reveals himself to two of his disciples, who failed to recognize him as they traveled on the road to Emmaus. Christ is seated beneath a splendid velvet green canopy that delimits the sacred space. The sacramental message is elucidated in the finely executed still life of bread, wine, and eggs––the latter a traditional symbol of resurrection and immortality. Distinguished by their contemporary dress, the well-fed innkeeper with a large purse and the plumed serving boy––along with their visual counterparts, a wary dog and menacing cat––attend to mundane affairs, unaware of the divine mystery unfolding before them.