Topic 1 - Supper at Emmaus by Caravaggio, 1601

the setting is…

mundane, an inn with an inn-keeper, meeting of the divine with the everyday

intense emotions conveyed by….

almost theatrically animated gestured and expressions

image focuses on the moment Christ…

reveals his true identity to his two disciples following the crucifixion

what makes you feels as if you are participating in / witness to this drama?

life-sized figures, the intimate view, foreshortening of the fruit basket / arms of the figures and large-scale

torn and shabby clothing, emphasising…

poverty and humility of characters

unorthodox depiction of Christ e.g….

shown beardless and as much emphasis on tantalising still life on the table as on religious drama taking place

the drama of the scene is achieved through the use of…

tenebrism

the shallow picture spaced tilts and…

pushes the figures and setting forward

the scene has a …… …….. source

singular light source creating a spotlight on the figures

we are made to feel like….. in the scene

participants

little evidence of preliminary sketching beforehand, rather…

working rapidly from life, suggesting an emphasis on truth rather than art

dramatic moment yet not dramatic in the sense of other images of Christ in…

majesty or as Christ pantokrator

all devices work together as a way of thrusting religion and the spiritual into the…

domain of ordinary people

painted during the height of the

Counter-Reformation

The …….. established to combat the continued threat of Protestantism

Council of Trent

the new religious atmosphere in Rome provided a suitable environment for the …… illusionism of Caravaggio’s work

trompe l’oeil

Who were the Jesuits?

spiritual warriors that urged believers to use all their five sense when thinking of the Christian message - encouraged to not just learn the stories shown in paintings but to imagine themselves physically entering into these stories and undergoing the same experience