UK
Collection

Supper at Emmaus

Szymon Czechowicz

  • Supper at Emmaus 2
  • Supper at Emmaus 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-3345
Author
Szymon Czechowicz
Name
Supper at Emmaus
Date of creation
c.1767
Country
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
101 x 144
Additionally
Type
painting
Genre
religious painting
Plot
Supper at Emmaus
Exposition
Zhovkva Castle
Information about author
Author
Szymon Czechowicz
Artist's lifetime
1689–1775
Biography
Szymon Czechowicz was born in an impoverished noble family in Krakow on July 28, 1689. He became an orphan at a young age. Thanks to the support of his patron and philanthropist Franciszek Ossolinski, the artist went to Rome, where he studied painting at the Academy of St. Luke under the guidance of Carlo Maratti. The first professional works of the artist were copies after famous painters, such as Rubens, Van Dyck and others; the artist drew upon their iconographic compositions. In 1765, at the invitation of Waclaw Rzewuski, he arrived at Pidhirtsi Castle in the Lviv region; by 1767, Czechowicz created 107 works that became part of the castle interior and a kind of the first museum of the artist. During the last period of his life, Szymon Czechowicz worked in Lithuania and Warsaw, where he opened his own art studio. The artist died on July 21, 1775. He was considered to be one of the best artists of the Baroque era in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Among the artist's creative legacy there are portraits and monumental paintings on sacred themes.
Object description
In the foreground of the painting there are images of Christ on the right and three other men on the left. The figure of Christ is depicted in red clothes and barefoot. There is a dog at his feet. In the hands of Christ there is bread symbolizing the foundation of the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist. One of the portrayed characters is depicted with a jug in his hands, and the other with his hat off to greet (?). Landscape elements with buildings are in the background of the painting.

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