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| Duccio, Road to Emmaus Italian, 1300-1305 Siena, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo |
going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus,
and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred.
And it happened that while they were conversing and debating,
Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?”
They stopped, looking downcast.
One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply,
“Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things
that have taken place there in these days?”
And he replied to them, “What sort of things?”
They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over
to a sentence of death and crucified him.
But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel;
and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place.
Some women from our group, however, have astounded us:
they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his Body;
they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels
who announced that he was alive.
Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.”
And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are!
How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke!
Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things
and enter into his glory?”
Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets,
he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures.
As they approached the village to which they were going,
he gave the impression that he was going on farther.
But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.”
So he went in to stay with them.
(Luke 24:13-29)
Gospel for Third Sunday of Easter, May 8, 2011
This is probably one of the most mysterious of the apparitions of the Risen Jesus in the Gospels. Why did these disciples fail to recognize Jesus throughout what appears to be a long afternoon and evening, as they walk and talk, yet recognized Him “in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:35)?
Possibly they failed to recognize Him because He no longer looked exactly like the Jesus they knew before the Crucifixion. Perhaps they didn’t really know Him all that well in the first place? Perhaps they were so wrapped up in their own gloom and distress that they simply didn’t look too closely at him? Perhaps He prevented them from recognizing Him for some greater purpose? We may never know the answer to these questions but we can imagine the scene. Artists have been imagining it too over the centuries, but have primarily chosen to focus on the moment of recognition, which occurs later in the story, when the disciples recognize the Risen Jesus “in the breaking of the bread”.
Among the images of the journey we find images over all periods starting with the Carolingian period and going on through the twentieth century.
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| Journey to Emmaus and Recognition of the Risen Jesus from the Drogo Sacramentary France(Metz), 9th Century Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 9428, fol. 61v |
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| Ivory plaque, Journey to Emmaus France or Germany (Lotharingia), 850-900 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 9390 |
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| Ivory Plaque, Journey to Emmaus and Recognition of the Risen Jesus Carolingian (Northern French), c. 850-900 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection |
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| Journey to Emmaus from the Saint Peter Gospels Austrian (Salzburg), 1025-1050 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 781, fol. 123r |
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| Journey to Emmaus from the Psalter of Christina of Markyate (Saint Albans Psalter) English (St. Albins), 1124 Hildesheim, Dombibliothek |
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| Journey to Emmaus Spanish, 1100-1150 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Journey to Emmaus and Mary Magdalene Informing the Disciples from the Ingeborg Psalter French, c. 1195-1200 Chantilly, Musée Condé MS 9, fol. 30v |
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| Workshop of Pacino di Bonaguida, Journey to Emmaus from Scenes from the Life of Christ and the Life of Blessed Gerard of Villamagna Italian, 1315-1325 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 643, fol. 15r |
Clearly, the description of the journey to "a village seven miles from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:13) suggests that the event takes place in the countryside. However, it was not until the fifteenth century that artist began to depict natural looking landscape as the background for the figures of Jesus and the two disciples. From the fifteenth century on this became the dominant way in which this part of the story was told although it reduced the actual Biblical story to a sometimes miniscule portion of the composition. Sometimes it is even difficult to locate the figures in the grand landscape.
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| Journey to Emmaus from a Gospel Book Italian (Padua), 1436 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 180, fol. 57r |
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| Bartolomeo di Tommaso, Journey to Emmaus Italian, c. 1440 Minneapolis (MN), Minneapolis Museum of Art |
In the two images above and the two below Jesus wears gardening attire, reminding one of Mary Magdalene's lack of recognition (see Jesus the Gardener).
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| Journey to Emmaus French, First quarter of the 16th Century Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Altobello Melone, Journey to Emmaus Italian, c. 1516-1517 London, National Gallery |
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| Attributed to Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Journey to Emmaus Flemish, c. 1530-1540 Private Collection |
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| Herri met de Bles, Landscape with Christ and Disciples on the Road to Emmaus Flemish, c. 1530 Antwerp, Museum Mayer van den Bergh |
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| Herri met de Bles, Landscape with Christ and Disciples on the Road to Emmaus Flemish, 1535-1540 Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum |
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| Lelio Orsi, Journey to Emmaus Italian, c. 1565-1575 London, National Gallery |
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| Abel Grimmer, Journey to Emmaus Flemish, c. 1600 Private Collection |
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| Attributed to Tobias Verhaecht, Journey to Emmaus Flemish, c. 1600 Dijon, Musée Magnin |
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| Paul Bril, Journey to Emmaus Flemish, c. 1600 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Paul Bril, Mountain Landscape with the Journey to Emmaus Flemish, 1602 Glasgow, Glasgow Museums Resource Centre |
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| Cornelis van Poelenburgh, Journey to Emmaus Flemish, c. 1637-1641 Guildford (Surrey, UK), Hatchlands |
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| Jacques Stella, Journey to Emmaus French, c. 1640-1650 Nantes, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
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| Jan Wildens, Landscape with the Journey to Emmaus Flemish, c. 1640 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum
I particularly like this vision of the journey with its rolling hills, open fields, comfortable looking cottage and the man fishing by the river who turns around to listen to the discussion between Jesus and the disciples who are, in this case, highly visible.
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| Salomon van Ruysdael, Landscape with Journey to Emmaus Dutch, 1645 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Roelant Roghman, Landscape with Journey to Emmaus Dutch, c. 1650-1660 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| Claude Lorrain, Landscape with Journey to Emmaus French, 1660 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
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| J. Myts, River Landscape with Christ on the Road to Emmaus Dutch, 1664 Portadown (NI), Ardress House |
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| Andrea Locatelli. Journey to Emmaus Italian, Second Quarter of the 18th Century Toulouse, Musée des Augustins |
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| Felix Hippolyte Lanque, Christ on the Road to Emmaus French, c. 1850 Autun, Musée Rolin |
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| John Linnell, Journey to Emmaus English, 1835 Oxford, The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology |
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| James Tissot, Pilgrims on the Emmaus Road French, 1886-1894 New York, Brooklyn Museum |
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| Auguste Rousselin, Journey to Emmaus French, 1889 Macon, Musée des Ursulines |
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| Paul Alexandre Leroy, The Disciples Urge Jesus to Stay French, 1927 Sketch for Salon painting of 1927 Autun, Musée Rolin |
More to follow.
© M. Duffy, 2011 with 2017 revisions