The Supper at Emmaus 1638

Peter Paul Reubens created this print of The Supper at Emmaus, a story from the Gospel of Luke. It uses a visual code that would have been familiar to 17th century viewers in Flanders. Flanders, now part of modern Belgium, was at this time under the political control of Spain and a bastion of the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church’s response to Protestantism. Rubens was deeply Catholic, yet he received commissions from across confessional lines. This print would have been widely available through print shops, and is a reminder that for the artist, religious conviction and the market for art did not always coincide. The Church, wealthy elites, and the rising middle class were all potential patrons. Studying his letters and account books, as well as the writings of his contemporaries, can tell us much more about the artist and the social world that shaped his art. Art is never created in a vacuum.