On his return from Italy Poelenburgh never lost his serene Italianate mood and continued to paint small scale pictures of this type often with incidental subject matter. The figures were almost always painted by the artist himself. The landscape is strongly reminiscent of the Appenine Mountains between Rome and Florence. Poelenburgh’s later landscapes became much more idealised. The story of the Pilgrimage to Emaus is often depicted in seventeenth century art. After his Resurrection Christ appears to two unnamed Apostles as they walk to Jerusalem to the nearby village of Emmaus. They do not recognise the figure of Christ walking between them.

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