Bible in art · Luke

The Agony in the Garden

Raphael · ca. 1504
The Met, New York

Raphael was about twenty when he painted this tiny panel around 1504, for the foot of an altarpiece ordered by the nuns of Sant’Antonio da Padova in Perugia. The main panel is also at The Met; two other small scenes from the same strip are in London and Boston.

The scene is quiet and open. Jesus kneels in prayer on a low rise while three disciples sleep in front of him, and a small angel flies in from the corner of the sky.

From the text

He knelt down and prayed a stone’s throw beyond them (Luke 22:41)
“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me” (Luke 22:42)
An angel from heaven appeared to Him (Luke 22:43)
Peter, James and John asleep (Mark 14:33, 14:37)

The artist’s own

The “cup” of the prayer shown as a real chalice in the angel’s hands, as painters usually did
A calm daylight landscape of Umbrian hills instead of night
Thin trees and a haystack-like bank of bushes

Details

Jesus praying

Kneeling, hands joined, looking up towards the sky.

The angel

A small angel in red flies in, holding out a chalice.

Asleep

A young disciple in green and yellow sleeps sitting up, hands folded.

Asleep

Another, in red, rests his head on his arm.

The third

A third disciple lies at the left, almost hidden behind the slope.

Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio or Santi), Italian, Urbino 1483–1520 Rome. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (Funds from various donors, 1932; acc. 32.130.1) · Oil on wood · Public Domain — The Met Open Access (CC0). The Met Collection API record: "isPublicDomain": true; The Met marks such works on its website "with the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) icon".

The verses

Luke 22:39–46Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed Him. When He came to the place, He told them, “Pray that you will not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. “Why are you sleeping?” He asked. “Get up and pray so that you will not enter into temptation.”

Mark 14:32–37Then they came to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus told His disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is consumed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour would pass from Him. “Abba, Father,” He said, “all things are possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” Then Jesus returned and found them sleeping. “Simon, are you asleep?” He asked. “Were you not able to keep watch for one hour?

See it at the museum’s site