A Kitchen Scene with Supper at Emmaus

Aertsen invented the practice of depicting genre subjects, such as still life and market scenes, on a monumental scale with a biblical scene in the background. Prints after his designs, including this one engraved by Matham, promoted his formula, which deeply influenced later Baroque painting in Flanders and Italy. In this print, a table overflowing with seafood in the foreground distracts the viewer from realizing that the New Testament scene of the Supper at Emmaus is being “unveiled” by a servant in the background. According to Saint Luke’s gospel, two disciples were eating dinner with a stranger who they recognized as the resurrected Christ when be broke bread at the table. In Aertsen’s formulation, the act of looking past the mundane elements of the composition to discover the religious scene in the background results in a revelation akin to the apostles’.