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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Image credits: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1571 – 1610, The Supper at Emmaus, 1601. Presented by the Hon. George Vernon, 1839 © The National Gallery, London
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Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da) (1571–1610), The Taking of Christ, 1602.
On indefinite loan to the National Gallery of Ireland from the Jesuit Community, Leeson St, Dublin, who acknowledge the kind generosity of the late Dr Marie Lea-Wilson, 1992. Image, National Gallery of Ireland.