The Bible in Pictures

Velázquez painted this in his early twenties, shortly before he went to the court in Madrid. Christ sits at the left edge, lit from the side, and the two disciples turn towards him.

The picture is cut close: no room, no table laid for a feast, only three men and a cloth. Velázquez learned this hard side light in Seville, from pictures that came from Italy in Caravaggio's wake.

A thin ring of light round the head is all that marks Christ out. The disciple's hand is raised between them.

A thin ring of light round the head is all that marks Christ out. The disciple's hand is raised between them.