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One Good Meal Sat Jan 02 2010
One Rustic Meal, On Loan from London
Chicago is a city known for its food, not Old Masters. But until the end of this month, the Art Institute of Chicago is playing host to one very special 400-year-old meal made from oil...paint, that is. Caravaggio's The Supper at Emmaus (1601) is on loan from The National Gallery of London. The painting depicts the biblical moment when two of Jesus' followers realize that their dinner guest is none other than the recently-resurrected Christ.
According to the Gospel of Luke (24:30-31), "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight." Caravaggio depicts Jesus, the disciples and presumably an innkeeper gathered around a supper of bread, fowl, water and wine. The artist draws the viewer into the space with his signature chiaroscuro, or use of light and dark, and the figures' dramatic gestures. But Caravaggio also invites us to partake in the meal with an overflowing basket of fruit perched precariously at the edge of the table, as if for us to catch.
The Supper at Emmaus is on view in Gallery 211 at the Art Institute until January 24. See the museum's web site for visitor information.
