Supper at Emmaus

Wilkie began this painting while in Jerusalem, one of the stops he made on an extended trip to the Near East in 1840–41. His travels were part of a campaign that he hoped would lead to a revolution in religious painting, one in which first-hand observation of the landscapes, architecture, and peoples of the Holy Lands would be used to create historically accurate Biblical scenes. While areas of the painting, particularly some of the faces and costumes, are filled with intricate detail, the remainder is only sketched in.
Intending to finish the work in his London studio, the artist died on the voyage home.