The Agony in the Garden, from "The Passion of Christ"
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 8 1/16 x 5 3/8 in. (20.5 x 13.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Henry Walters, 1917
Accession Number
17.37.39
Tags
Art Historical Context
Hendrick Goltzius, a masterful Dutch engraver of the late 16th century, captures a pivotal moment from the Bible in *The Agony in the Garden* (1597), part of his renowned series *The Passion of Christ*. This engraving depicts Jesus in deep sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying amid his agony before his arrest, with sleeping apostles nearby and a comforting angel above—evoking profound themes of sadness, divine support, and human frailty, as suggested by the artwork's tags. Goltzius, a leading figure in Northern Mannerism, excelled in engraving, a technique where intricate lines are inci...
About the Artist
Hendrick Goltzius · 1558–1617
Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617) was the most celebrated engraver of the Northern Renaissance and a pivotal figure in Dutch Mannerism. Born near the German-Dutch border, Goltzius transformed printmaking into a virtuoso art form through his revolutionary 'swelling line' technique, where the burin was manipulated to create lines of varying thickness that produced unprecedented tonal effects and three-d...