Jan Cossiers

This biblical scene takes place in the town of Emmaus on the third day after Christ’s resurrection. As Christ shares bread with travelers at an inn, the man at the far right perceives he is in the presence of the divine. The man wears cockle shells, crossed staffs, a medal, and a tall hat that designate him as a pilgrim to the Spanish shrine of Santiago de Compostela, the most important and popular pilgrimage site in Europe for hundreds of years. Cossiers’s inclusion of a 17th-century pilgrim in a biblical scene suggests that he made the painting for a particular patron, such as a church or brotherhood associated with Saint James, who is believed to be buried at Compostela.