Caravaggio - The Final Years

Last stop, an exhibition in the National Gallery of Caravaggio. I'd been tempted not to see this having seen a lot of Caravaggio but was convinced otherwise. Admittedly it had a painting that I really wanted to see that would otherwise be in the normal National Gallery collection.

This was the 'Supper at Emmaus' done in 1601. The good thing about these types of exhibitions is sometimes putting together paintings that otherwise wouldn't be together. So next to the Supper at Emmaus 1601 version by Caravaggio, was Supper at Emmaus 1606 version also by Caravaggio.

Now in 1606, Caravaggio killed a man and had to leave Rome where he was working (Caravaggio was a bit of a wild man, always getting into trouble and drinking too much). Thus the exhibition mainly tracked the last part of his life, from 1606 to 1609 and how he dealt with subject matter after killing someone.

So having the two Supper at Emmaus paintings beside one another was kinda like a before and after shot and there were differences in how the subject matter was handled. There were only 16 paintings in this exhibition, all by Caravaggio but a matter of quality over quantity.