The Supper at Emmaus

Giovanni Battista Piazzetta (Italian, 1682–1754)

c. 1720

Medium
oil on canvas
Classification
Painting
Dimensions
Framed: 133.4 x 167 x 9.5 cm (52 1/2 x 65 3/4 x 3 3/4 in.); Unframed: 108 x 140.6 cm (42 1/2 x 55 3/8 in.)
Culture
Italy
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
Credit line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This painting depicts the biblical story of the Supper at Emmaus, when the disguised, resurrected Christ suddenly reveals himself to two astonished disciples as they all sit down to dinner. The artist has painted the figures’ hands and the objects on the table meticulously, but leaves other details vague, including the background drapery, in order to heighten the unfolding drama.