Christ at Emmaus: The larger Plate

Christ at Emmaus: the larger Plate is the last in the sequence of episodes from the Life of Christ Rembrandt treated in a group of four prints created in and around 1654 (see also lot 111). The print depicts one of the early sightings of the Risen Christ following His death on the Cross. According to the Gospel of Luke, two disciples including one called Cleopas left Jerusalem on the day the tomb of Christ has been found empty. On the road to Emmaus they encounter a stranger, and they talk to him about Jesus of Nazareth, His crucifixion and the rumour of His resurrection, and the stranger reprimands them for doubting the prophesies, which he recounts for them. And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.  (Luke 24:28-31) This is the moment Rembrandt has depicted here: the three have sat down at a table in the inn, Christ has broken the bread and offers the two halves to the disciples, in a gesture reminiscent of the Last Supper, and at last they recognise Him. The disciple at left has sprung to his feet, the other recoils in amazement. To add some ‘everyday life’ to the scene, Rembrandt has added the innkeeper in the front, who seems only mildly interested in his guests, and a dog trotting along in the opposite direction, just behind him. Rembrandt has placed the table in the middle of a raised alcove with a canopy above, with the apparition of Christ seen frontally at the very centre of the image. The composition very much resembles an altar, no doubt a deliberate reference to the Holy Communion. Unlike the other three prints from this group, this is not a night scene, and yet Rembrandt’s interest here too is the depiction of light. Christ’s head and torso is barely defined, especially on His left, and the head is surrounded by radiating lines suggestive of the divine light emanating from Him. The vagueness of the figure of Christ evokes the ephemeral nature of this apparition: ‘… and he vanished out of their sight.’ It is an effect that Camillo Procaccini (1555-1629) may have been the first to attempt in etching, in his Transfiguration of circa 1587-90 (see lot 57), a print that Rembrandt may well have known.