Currently not on view
Agony in the Garden,
ca. 1657
Rembrandt van Rijn, 1606–1669; born Leiden, Netherlands; died Amsterdam, Netherlands
x1969-316
While praying in the Garden of Gethsemane just before his arrest, Christ was visited by an angel, who strengthened his resolve to undergo death by crucifixion. In this small but powerful etching, Rembrandt humanized the event by stressing the physicality of the angel’s embrace. He also highlighted Jesus’s spiritual agony—his internal struggle in accepting his fate—by contrasting the diagonal rays of heavenly light falling on Christ and the angel with the more ephemeral shadows cast by the moon, peeking out from behind the scudding clouds. The dark patches, created by ink left on the surface of the plate during printing, enhance the flickering drama of this nocturnal scene.
Information
Title
Agony in the Garden
Dates
ca. 1657
Maker
Medium
Etching and drypoint
Dimensions
plate (sheet trimmed to plate): 11.2 × 8.4 cm (4 7/16 × 3 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of David H. McAlpin, Class of 1920, and Mrs. McAlpin, in memory of Professor Clifton R. Hall
Object Number
x1969-316
Place Made
Europe, Netherlands
Inscription
Signed in plate, lower right: Rembrandt f. 165- [1657?]
Reference Numbers
Bartsch 75; Biörklund and Barnard 57; Hind 293; Hollstein 40; Münz 225; New Hollstein 213.269
Materials
Techniques
- E. F. Gersaint and Adam von Bartsch, Catalogue raisonné de toutes les estampes qui forment l’oeuvre de Rembrandt et ceux de ses principaux imitateurs (Vienne: A Blumauer, 1797)., 124
- Ludwig Münz, Rembrandt's Etchings: Reproductions of the Whole Original Etched Work (London: Phaidon Press, 1952)., no. 198
- George Biörklund and Osbart H. Barnard, Rembrandt's Etchings, True and False (Stockholm, New York [etc.], 1968)., no. 33
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F.W.H. Hollstein, “Rembrandt,” Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700 (Amsterdam: M. Hertzberger, 1969).
, no. 81 - "Acquisitions 1969", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 29, no. 1 (1970): p. 16-27., p. 23
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Erik Hinterding and Jaco Rutgers, Ger Luijten, ed., "Rembrandt," New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish etchings, engravings and woodcuts, 1450-1700 (Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel: Sound & Vision Publishers ; Amsterdam: In co-operation with the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijksmuseum, 2013).
, no. 119, p. 189 - Arthur Mayger Hind, Rembrandt's etchings: an essay and a catalogue, with some notes on the drawings (New York: Scribner, 1912)., 141
