Landscape with the Road to Emmaus

Herri met de Bles painted this scene on a field about 15 centimetres high and 33 wide. At some point the panel was trimmed on every side and a strip was added along the top, so the picture in Vienna is taller than the one he made.

The story is from Luke's gospel. On the day of the Resurrection two disciples were walking from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus, and a stranger joined them on the road and talked with them. Only at supper, when he broke the bread, did they recognise Christ. Bles chose the walk. The three travellers stand at the lower left, beside a rocky river valley that opens onto a distant town. The Kunsthistorisches Museum dates the panel to around 1535 to 1540.