IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES
IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES

IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES

IN GETHSEMANE TWO IMPORTANT GROUPS OF THE SAME ALTARPIECE REPRESENTING CHRIST ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVE TREES

 

ORIGIN: SOUTHERN GERMANY

PERIOD: FIRST THIRD OF THE 16TH CENTURY

 

DIMENSIONS:

Group 1:                          Group 2:

Height: 69 cm                  Height: 60 cm

Length: 47 cm                  Length: 44 cm

Depth: 21 cm                    Depth: 20 cm

 

Polychromed lime wood

Good state of conservation, some accidents and restorations,

Original polychromy well preserved.

 

Provenance: Former Claer Collection, Mulhouse.

(Labels on the back of the two groups)

 

 

DEMANDE D’INFORMATIONS

 

Retour aux sculptures

 

Category:

Description

Two important groups of the same altarpiece in polychromed lime wood, represent Christ on the Mount of Olives. The back is hollowed out.

 

According to the Gospel of Saint Matthew 26,36-56:

Jesus then went with them to a place called Gethsemane. Taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to feel sadness and anguish. Then he said to them:

“My soul is sorrowful to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me”.

He went a little further and fell on his face, praying thus:

“My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will”.

Then he returned to the disciples whom he found sleeping, and he said to Peter: “So you were not able to watch one hour with me. Watch and pray that you may not be put to the test: the spirit indeed is eager, but the body is weak”.

He went away a second time and prayed again, saying,

“My Father, if this (cup) cannot pass away unless I drink it, may your will be done!”

And he came and found them sleeping again, for their eyes were heavy. He left them and went away to pray a third time, saying the same words. Then he came back to the disciples and said to them,

“You are still sleeping and resting. Now the hour has come when the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of fishermen. Get up! Come! Now he has arrived who will betray me.”

 

The scene is set in Gethsemane. This place-name designated an enclosure, probably an olive grove, which was located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, on the eastern bank of the Kidron.

The planting of the scenery is in keeping with the staging of the mysteries.

In this hilly, green and rocky landscape treated stylistically in a Germanic manner, two sleeping figures stand out on the left, with gentle and peaceful faces.

In the group on the right, a third one adjoins Christ. 

The Christ, with a fervent and distant gaze, is kneeling on a pile of stones, praying to the Lord.

Peter, James and John, Christ’s three favourite disciples, are here, dressed in the ancient toga, with bare heads and feet.

But tired from having prepared the Last Supper or weighed down by food and wine, they fell asleep while the master was praying. Jesus is forced to wake them up three times.

In the foreground, Saint Peter asleep, is easily recognizable with his bald head from which emerges only a tuft of hair on his forehead and his curly hair forming a tonsure, with his short and curly beard. On the left group, are the two sons of Zebedee asleep: John, young and beardless, and his brother James the major who holds an open book in his hand.

In the background, under an arbour, Judas, a full purse in his hand, discusses with a soldier and in a movement seems to designate Jesus. According to the Gospel according to Matthew, Judas who assumed the role of treasurer, delivers Jesus to the high priests of Jerusalem, and obtained thirty pieces of silver for this.

A very strong feeling of fullness emerges from this important bas-relief, where the quality is equivalent to the originality and rarity of the subject.

 

Bibliography :

Louis REAU, Iconographie de l’art chrétien, Kraus Reprint, Paris, 1988