Agony in the Garden, from Passion of Christ
1575/1600
Medium
Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate, oval cropped to image: 15.2 × 11.1 cm (6 × 4 3/8 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
154526
Art Historical Context
Behold the poignant intensity of *Agony in the Garden*, an engraving by Flemish artist Jan Sadeler I (. 1550–1600), part of his *Passion of Christ* series. Created between 1575 and 1600, this work captures the biblical moment in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Christ prays in anguish before his betrayal and arrest. Sadeler, a master engraver from Antwerp's renowned Sadeler family, specialized in intricate religious prints that brought sacred narratives to devout audiences across Europe. Rendered in black ink on fine ivory laid paper, the oval composition (15.2 × 11.1 cm) showcases engraving's...
About the Artist
Jan Sadeler, I · 1550–1600
Jan Sadeler I (1550–1600) was born in Brussels and became the most prominent member of the largest and most successful dynasty of Flemish printmakers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Sadeler family — which included Jan's brothers Aegidius and Raphael — produced an extraordinary volume of engravings that circulated across Catholic Europe, disseminating images of religious subjects, p...