The Supper at Emmaus

Rembrandt van Rijn (attributed to) 1606 - 1669

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Rembrandt. The drawing is of the interior of a dim room, with two tall windows to the left. Two of the Disciples are present, one seated at a table and one standing on the other side of the table with his hand raised, clutching a cloth with the other hand. An empty chair is pushed back from the table with a burst of light above it; as described in the text below, this indicates the vanished Christ. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "7. REMBRANDT (b. 1606; d. 1669) THE SUPPER AT EMMAUS Collection of Mr. Charles Ricketts and Mr. Charles Shannon. Pen and sepia and sepia wash with touches of white. 20 x 18.2 cm. (7 7/8 x 7 1/8 in.). The drawing illustrates the moment when the Disciples 'eyes were opened and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight'. A drawing of the same subject, in which the figures and general disposition of things are the same, is reproduced in etching in Jacob Houbraken's Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Kontschilders, Amsterdam, 1718-23, Vol. I, p. 258; but a cloak lies on the ground in front of the empty chair, and nothing is made of the glory of light above the chair (rendered by white in the present drawing), and the composition is shorter above and below. Houbraken is discussing in his text the variety of studies Rembrandt did for one subject, and states that he is reproducing one of several that he knows showing this moment of the story, when Christ has vanished from the Disciples' sight. He also refers to many others showing Christ conversing (as in the picture of 1629). The present appears to be the version once in the hands of Artaria & Co., of Vienna, reproduced in half-tone on p. 91 of Vol. III (1904, 1ste Halfjaar) of Onze Kunst. It is at once one of the most dramatic and most beautiful compositions in the whole range of Rembrandt's drawings. A. M. H. [Another drawing of the same subject (? the present drawing) was engraved by Ploos van Amstel.]"