COECKE VAN AELST, Pieter
(b. 1502, Aelst, d. 1550, Bruxelles)

Agony in the Garden

1527-30
Oil on panel, 83 x 57 cm
The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Before the arrival of the soldiers brought by Judas to place Christ under arrest, he must complete his player and awaken the apostles. Curiously, as a consequence of the artist's pursuit of verisimilitude in depicting the sequence, setting, and details of the Gospel story, the cup - a figure of speech in Christ's appeal to God - has become material in the form of a monument erected on the top of the hill.