Updated 10 April 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
The Garden of Gethsemane
| Date | ca. 1518 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on panel |
| Size（cm） | 54 x 32 |
| Inscriptions | Lower right: The Mark of the Serpent |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1968-0001 |
This painting depicts Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, immediately before his arrest. The work is thought to date around 1518, in Cranach's middle period. After the Last Supper, Christ went to the Mount of Olives, accompanied by his disciples. Three of his disciples, Peter, Jacob and John, accompanied him to the Garden of Gethsemane, located at the base of the Mount, but then they left him and he prayed alone. Here Christ is seen in the middle of the composition on a slight rise on the ground. His three disciples sleep in the foreground, contrary to Christ's orders. An angel appears to the upper right of Christ, bearing a sacred chalice and Cross, while in the background a group led by Judas appears, come to arrest Christ. The darkening sky presents a strange contrast between dark clouds above and bright sunset below, alluding to Christ's suffering and the tragedy to come. The landscape depiction is reminiscent of the Danube school style, suggesting that this work is not that far removed from Cranach's early period works painted during his Viennese period. There is another work by Cranach at the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden of the same subject but larger overall, and the majority of motifs in that painting accord with those seen here.(Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 11)
Provenance
Failly-Goltstein, Schloß Breil near Geilenkirchen; Auc. Ch. Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1906, lot 5, repr.; The Art Institute of Chicago, 1907; Auc., Park Burnet, 4. 5. 1944; private collection, U.S.A.; Julius Böhler München; Otto Wertheimer, Paris; purchased by the NMWA, 1968.
Exhibition History
- 2016
- Lucas Cranach the Elder: 500 Years of the Power of Temptation, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 15 October 2016 - 15 January 2017, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 28 January-16 April, cat. no. 19, col. repr.
Bibliography
- 1906
- Illustrated Catalogue of the Tenth Series of the 100 Paintings by Old Masters of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, and English Schools, Being a Portion of the Sedelmeyer Gallery Which Contains about 1500 Original Pictures by Ancient and Modern Artists (exh. cat.). Paris, 1906, no. 5.
- 1908
- Chicago Art Institute Bulletin. vol. 1, 1908, p. 17.
- 1925
- A Guide to the Paintings in the Permanent Collection. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1925, p. 22, repr.
- 1932
- Friedländer, M.; Rosenberg, J. Cranach. Berlin, 1932, p. 85, no. 301a, p. 101.
- 1936
- Kuhn, Charles L. A Catalogue of German Paintings of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in American Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1936, p. 35, no. 78.
- 1947
- Cheney, Sheldon. A World History of Art. New York, 1947, p. 675, repr.
- 1969
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 3 (1968), 1969, Yamada, Chisaburoh F. Lucas Cranach the Elder saku 《The Garden of Gethsemane》 ni tuite. pp. 44-48, repr. (in Japanese); Catalogue of the New Acquisitions. pp. 36-37, no. P-365. repr.
- 1971
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 19, col. repr.
- 1975
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 7, col. repr.
- 1978
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 6, col. repr.
- 1978
- Friedländer, Max J.; Rosenberg, Jacob. The Paintings of Lucas Cranach. London, Philip Wilson, 1978, p. 88, no. 93, repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 76, repr.
- 2005
- Cranach: mit einem Bestandskatalog der Gemälde in den Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden (exh. cat.). Marx, Harald; Mössinger, Ingrid, eds. Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz, 13 November 2005 - 12 March 2006. Köln, Wienand, 2005, p. 336, fig. 151.
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 11, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 11, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 7, col. repr.
- 2016
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 2016, cat. no. 7, col. repr.
- 2016
- Lucas Cranach the Elder: 500 Years of the Power of Temptation (exh. cat.). Messling, Guido; Shinfuji Atsushi, eds. Tokyo, TBS Television, 2016, pp. 76-77, 280, cat. no. 19, col. repr.