Caravaggio paintings to be reunited at Ulster Museum

Two masterpieces by Caravaggio will go on show in May in the Ulster Museum, Belfast, the first time they’ve been seen together since the 17th century.

The Supper at Emmaus and The Taking of Christ, painted in 1601 and 1602 respectively by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, will be exhibited together as part of the National Treasures project marking the bicentenary of the UK’s National Gallery.

The Supper at Emmaus will be loaned to the Ulster Museum by the National Gallery, London, while the Jesuit Community in Dublin, with the support of the National Gallery of Ireland, will facilitate the loan of The Taking of Christ. The Baroque masterpieces will go on show on 10 May and the exhibit remains until 1 September.

The exhibition will be a rare chance for art lovers to see the renowned paintings hanging side by side. Both were painted for the same patron, Ciriaco Mattei, and originally displayed in the same family palace in Rome. They rarely travel and have hardly ever been seen together since the first quarter of the 17th century.

Kathryn Thomson, chief executive of National Museums NI, said: “To be able to see both paintings together in the one location is almost unprecedented, and as such creates a genuine once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for local audiences, as well as an undoubted draw for visitors from further afield.”

Caravaggio is well known for his extraordinary use of contrasting light and shade in his work which is evident in these two paintings.

While the Caravaggio exhibition marks an historic event for art lovers, there are always excellent fine art and applied art exhibitions at the Ulster Museum as well as its fascinating collections of historical and cultural artefacts.

The work of Belfast painter Sir John Lavery is the focus of a special temporary exhibition running until 9 June entitled Lavery on Location. It showcases over 70 works painted by Lavery on his travels around the globe. And running until December, Drawing support: Murals, Memory and Identity explores the history of Northern Ireland’s famous murals through the photographs of Bill Rolston. The museum’s permanent art exhibitions include Light from the West; Irish Art after 1870, which includes paintings by Jack Yeats, Seán Keating and Renoir.

Alongside the art exhibitions, the Ulster Museum has natural science galleries, artefact collections spanning 10,000 years of history, and discovery spaces where visitors can get a hands-on experience of art, nature and history.

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