The Supper at Emmaus from Leiden, 1628
The Progression of Light to Dark
An afterthought on Rembrandt's "La Main Chaude (hot hand)" is really “The Supper at Emmaus”.
This is a small painting, étude. The picture progresses from light on the left to dark on the right. Two oval portraits on the wall and the stretched sheet in the middle. The oval is a shape that draws attention and, in this context, symmetrically balances the dynamic scene that flows from left to right, as rays of light from the resurrected Jesus. And diagonally from the lower left to the steps and a vertical column on the upper right.
Jesus
Jesus is complete obscured, truly “in another form” between the two worlds. There is a dark blob that is really in four parts. There is a silhouette of Jesus, the stretching shadow of the figure of Jesus on the floor, the dark side of the table and the shadow of the table. All visually merged. Jesus appears to be wearing a shapeless Dutch hat that envelopes the composition. We see a silhouette of the face only.
The composition of the painting is much more interesting than a full-frontal Jesus in the Supper at Emmaus of the later Rembrandt or the same subject from Caravaggio, for example. Full-frontal Jesus is usually emotionless in his glory and not as colorful as the fear and awe of the observers. This also explains why there is still the resistance to recognize the subject of this painting for what it really is. Later the same year, Rembrandt tried a version of “The Supper at Emmaus” where Jesus is starting to be more revealed.
But we live in the world of the reflected light…
The man by the table
Typically, a dining table is in the middle of a room. A dining table to the side might have again confused people away from the subject. But we see in “The Supper at Emmaus” from the same year in Leiden where Rembrandt repainted the composition of the dining table to the side.
The man in black
This man covers his face in awe as he cannot stare straight at the intense light. There is some distortion in scale. The figure of the man in black is more than a foot shorter than the man in blueish gray.
The man in blueish gray
This is the center of the composition. Rembrandt gave him the glistening golden buttons reflecting the light and sprinkled some into the glorious Dutch hat. Elaborate pleated costume. That Dutch period had the best fashion. The shapeless hats that still hold their unique shape, the bursts of white ray-like collars that frame the face. The man in blueish gray sneaks a peak at Jesus. Frozen in awe.
The man-shadow
The dark shadow behind the two men. It is not the shadow of the man in black, because of the hat and the figure. It is not the shadow of the man in the blueish gray, because of the shadow of that man falls to the right. I think this undeveloped shadow is the artistic trickery to provide a darker background and highlight the central figure in the composition.
The Steps
There is also a figure of someone playing an instrument and someone sitting on the steps, holding something in his right hand.