Milestone Essay
In this paper we are going to analyze Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s Supper at Emmaus, and Jean Francois Millet’s Harvesters Resting. The former is a Baroque style painting from Rome, Italy created around 1601 AD. It is approximately 141 x 196.2 cm in size, and it is currently located at The National Gallery of London in London, England. The latter is a Realism style painting form Barbizon, France developed 1850 – 1853 AD. It is approximately 67.3x 119.7 cm in size, and it is currently located at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Mass. These two works of art should be compared because of how important they were to their perspective eras, using biblical scenes to further the ideology of the perspective eras.
With the Supper at Emmaus painting, Caravaggio furthered his tenebrism technique, the deep contrasts of light in dark, which helped develop the great works of the Baroque period. In the painting, Caravaggio took the words of the Gospel of Mark (16:12) as it said that Jesus appeared to them “in another form”, and depicts Christ without a beard which as very unusual at the time. I believe another reason why he depicts him without a beard is to show his more human side. He depicts the apostles as not believing Christ, or as shocked, as he reveals himself to them. Caravaggio also leaves an empty space in front of Christ, between the disciples, as if to invite the viewer to be a part of the scene, making your presence the completion of the scene. This piece was part of the “Counter-Reformation” era that tried to combat the continued threat of Protestantism. “Counter-Reformation art” was commissioned mostly by the Catholic Church as a means to evoke strong emotion by using religious art so that the viewer would be less likely to be persuaded by the Protestans.
With Jean Francois Millet, his painting Harvesters Resting was the only painting that Millet won an award for. It is considered his masterpiece; as he wanted to turn the genre of realism from a scene
With the Supper at Emmaus painting, Caravaggio furthered his tenebrism technique, the deep contrasts of light in dark, which helped develop the great works of the Baroque period. In the painting, Caravaggio took the words of the Gospel of Mark (16:12) as it said that Jesus appeared to them “in another form”, and depicts Christ without a beard which as very unusual at the time. I believe another reason why he depicts him without a beard is to show his more human side. He depicts the apostles as not believing Christ, or as shocked, as he reveals himself to them. Caravaggio also leaves an empty space in front of Christ, between the disciples, as if to invite the viewer to be a part of the scene, making your presence the completion of the scene. This piece was part of the “Counter-Reformation” era that tried to combat the continued threat of Protestantism. “Counter-Reformation art” was commissioned mostly by the Catholic Church as a means to evoke strong emotion by using religious art so that the viewer would be less likely to be persuaded by the Protestans.
With Jean Francois Millet, his painting Harvesters Resting was the only painting that Millet won an award for. It is considered his masterpiece; as he wanted to turn the genre of realism from a scene