Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

The painting and its pendant (Deposition from the Cross, also in the Vatican) are of excellent quality, and their style and the manner in which they were painted indicate that they were produced for private devotion, something that was very fashionable in the eighteenth century. The palette is composed of soft tones of brown and green, soberly blending with pink and white. The Gethsemane scene is rendered with mournful sweetness, somewhat theatrical in the ample gestures of the protagonists, Jesus and the angels.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 14 minutes):

Ludwig van Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives, op. 85, Introduction and Jesus’ aria