Christ in Emmaus c. 1593

This drawing, Christ in Emmaus, was made around 1600 by Raphael Sadeler, using pen and brown ink, brush and brown and grey wash, heightened with white body color on paper. The scene is remarkable for the way it marries the sacred to the everyday. In the background, we see Christ at table. But our eye is drawn to the bustling kitchen scene in the foreground. We are shown the labor involved in preparing food, the endless round of pots and pans, the women clustered around the hearth, and even a chicken hanging ready for butchering. Sadeler gives us an image of class division: those who work and those who eat. The artist’s emphasis on the kitchen and the abundance of metalware turns our attention to the material conditions that made such scenes possible. The skilled labor of metalworkers and the complex trade networks that supplied these households with goods from across Europe are all implied. This drawing urges us to consider the economic and social structures in which religious events took place.