By Rev Paul Pecchie
Caravaggio is one of those painters who has a gift for bringing the viewer into his paintings. He pays attention to creating an immersive world with attention to detail and also setting up the composition to draw in the viewer. Caravaggio invites us to see the world through eyes of faith. This is on full display in his painting The Supper at Emmaus.
In the painting, Jesus is in the center, flanked by the two disciples. This forms the traditional triangular composition that allows the viewer’s eyes to focus on Christ and adds a calming symmetry. Caravaggio is a master of using light and shadow to tell a story. In his technique: a person who has light upon their face has grace and faith; a person who is in the shadows does not.
In this painting, Caravaggio captures the moment the two disciples are finally able to recognize Jesus for who he really is. The man on the right of the painting has light on his face, eyes wide, and arms outstretched. His left hand is almost grasping onto the viewer, pulling them into the painting. This man wears on his lapel a seashell, symbolic of the Camino de Santiago. Its symbolism marks him as a devout pilgrim, full of faith.
The second man, to the left of the painting, is so aghast at the revelation of Christ that he already has his hands on the arms of the chair and is pushing back as if to stand in amazement. His eyes are wide, and the light on his face shows again that faith has dawned for this man.
In the background is the innkeeper. He is in shadows and is completely oblivious to what is occurring before his very eyes. This man does not have faith, does not see Jesus as the Christ. Even when God is before him, the man still has his vision clouded due to a lack of faith. Caravaggio shows in this detail that God is always at work, the divine is always present, we just need to have eyes to see. Without faith, we cannot see the divine truth. Faith is more than sight; it is an act of grace and inner revelation.
Jesus possesses the eternal calm that encompasses him in his post-Resurrection appearances. He also is beardless and does not look like the Jesus we are accustomed to see in other Renaissance paintings. Part of Caravaggio’s interpretation is that Jesus, in his glorified body, is no longer bound to one time and place or bound to one race or culture. He is timeless. Caravaggio also captures the intentionality of Jesus. He is looking down very peacefully upon the bread. Jesus is revealing himself in the Eucharist, fully aware of the symbolism and theological meaning of this action.
We can turn our attention to the table before us. A space for a seat is left open for us, the viewer. As we take our place, we are confronted with a bowl of fruit that is precariously teetering on the edge of the table. This fruit bowl is inviting us to reach out and catch it, to take hold of this wicker basket. On the basket, there is the symbol, in loose whicker twigs, of the ἰχθύς (transliterated as ichthys). This is the Greek word “fish”. The symbol, made by two overlapping curved lines, was a very simple early Christian identifier. The word, ichthys, was used as an acronym, meaning Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. Even the shadow of the bowl takes on the shape of a fishtail.
Caravaggio wants us to choose faith, to believe in the Risen Christ, by taking hold of the basket, symbolizing Jesus himself. The eucharistic imagery is also laid upon this painting, in that as we accept from Jesus the bread, we are growing in our faith and strengthening our ability to see God in the world, to find Christ in our daily lives. The painting is an invitation. We are part of the story. This is for us. Do we recognize the divine in the everyday? Or are we like the innkeeper, in the darkness?