Christ Appearing on the Road to Emmaus

On the evening of the Resurrection, two disciples met a stranger on the road to the village of Emmaus and, not recognizing the risen Christ, urged him to lodge with them as night fell (Luke 24:13-35). Duccio shows Christ dressed as a pilgrim, staff in hand and a traveler's pouch at his hip, the disciples gesturing toward the walled town. From the back of his Siena Maesta, the panel sets the encounter against a steep fortified hill of real solidity, and tells the story through the welcoming hands of men who do not yet know whom they have met.