Artwork
The Agony in the Garden
The Agony in the Garden is an oil painting. It dates from 1696 and is held in the collection of the Museo del Prado.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
This iconography captures Christ in profound spiritual distress and prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest and crucifixion.
The artwork portrays the Agony in the Garden, a traditional religious subject focusing on Jesus Christ. This iconography captures Christ in profound spiritual distress and prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to his arrest and crucifixion. The composition is based on an earlier depiction of the same subject by Correggio. As a work of religious art, it represents themes of divine sacrifice, mortal anguish, and divine will.
Technique & Style
Created in 1692, The Agony in the Garden is an oil painting executed on a panel support. The work measures 40.5 cm in height and 42 cm in width. Classified as a religious painting, it serves as a copy after Correggio's composition of the same subject. The piece depicts the Agony in the Garden scene featuring Jesus Christ.
History & Provenance
The painting entered the Museo del Prado as a work after Correggio. It was recorded in the royal collection of Philip V of Spain, indicating Spanish royal ownership before its transfer to the museum.
The work is dated to 1692, aligning with the reign of Philip V, whose collection formed the nucleus of the Prado’s holdings.
The work is held in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, where it is inventoried under accession number P001911.
It has been exhibited in the gallery’s permanent displays dedicated to Spanish Baroque painting, as part of the museum’s holdings of religious works. The painting is catalogued as a late seventeenth-century copy after Correggio’s composition, aligning with its documented inception in 1692.
Overview
The work, titled The Agony in the Garden, is an oil painting that depicts a solitary, robed figure illuminated by a luminous halo, poised on a craggy ledge. He gestures upward with a startled expression, clutching a cloth in one hand. Behind him, a winged presence in pink and white leans forward, bearing a crown of thorns, while stormy clouds swirl above and faint silhouettes of sleeping figures lie below.
Artist & collection
