1654
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Betrayal of Christ is a 1654 unspecified by Jacob Jordaens, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows a dark garden at night. Jesus stands calm in the center. A man kisses his cheek—Judas. Behind them, soldiers with torches and weapons rush forward. Jordaens painted this after Rubens and Van Dyck died. Antwerp’s churches needed new religious art. The scene feels urgent, with sharp light and rough brushstrokes. Look up Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, 1593–1678) next.
After the deaths of fellow Flemish painters Peter Paul Rubens in 1640 and Anthony van Dyck in 1641, Jordaens became the leading painter in his native Antwerp. In the seventeenth century, Antwerp underwent a Catholic Restoration, leading to numerous commissions for religious paintings. Jordaens's large work depicts the moment, set in the Garden of Gethsemane, in which Judas betrays Christ with a kiss, leading to the arrest of Jesus by Roman soldiers. The tense moment of betrayal is compounded by the violent reaction of apostle Peter in the foreground, who attacks Malchus, the servant of the…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and a designer of tapestries and prints.
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