The motif has associations with the Eucharist. Thorvaldsen interpreted it for the first time in 1818 in connection with a commission from a church in Florence. However, this drawing dates from the ageing Thorvaldsen’s sojourn at the southern Zealand manor of Nysø, where Baroness Christine Stampe persuaded him to resume a series of biblical motifs. A relief showing Christ at Emmaus was given a permanent home in the local Jungshoved Church.
