Jun 3
Liberal Arts Blog — Christ’s Agony in the Garden: El Greco (1590), Bellini (ca 1465), Botticelli (ca 1500)
Liberal Arts Blog — Friday is the Joy of Art, Architecture, Design, Film, and All Things Visual Day
Today’s Topic: Christ’s Agony in the Garden: El Greco (1590), Bellini (ca 1465), Botticelli (ca 1500)
Between the Last Supper and his arrest, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He asked his disciplines Peter, James, and John to keep watch. But all three fell asleep. Christ’s anguish was allegedly so deep that he sweated blood — a rare condition that modern physicians call hematidrosis. According to the Gospel of Luke, an angel of the Lord appeared to strengthen Jesus in his moment of trial, as Judas and the Roman troops approach to arrest him. The Garden of Gethsemane is at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Today, three depictions of this famous interlude in Holy Week. My favorite by far is the El Greco. Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
EL GRECO (1590) — Toledo Art Museum, Toledo Ohio (painted in Toledo, Spain !!!!!)
1. “El Greco communicates Christ’s spiritual struggle (in Greek, agonia, “agony”) as he contemplates his coming crucifixion through Christ’s expressive face and pose, the otherworldly light and strident colors, and the confusing sense of space and form (where exactly is the angel in relationship to the sleeping apostles?). Combining aspects from all four Gospel accounts, El Greco gives visual form to Matthew 26:42 — “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
2. “Born Domenikos Theotokopoulos on the island of Crete, El Greco (“the Greek”) trained in Venice and Rome before settling in Toledo, Spain, where he painted this picture.” (fifth link below)
3. “His emotionally charged religious images confirm his status as one of the most intensely original artistic visionaries of any era.” Personally, I agree.
BELLINI (ca 1465) — National Gallery in London — and the 1914 attack by the suffragette, Grace Marcon
1. “The treatment of dawn light has a more important role in giving the scene a quasi-unearthly atmosphere.”
2. “The picture is closely related to the similar work by Bellini’s brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna also in the National Gallery.”
3. “It is likely that both derived from a drawing by Bellini’s father, Jacopo.”
NB: “The painting was amongst five paintings including Bellini’s Portrait of a Mathematician that was damaged in a suffragette protest by Grace Marcon (aka Frieda Graham) in 1914. She was sentenced to six months but she was released the next month weak from a hunger strike protest.”
BOTTICELLI — in the Royal Chapel at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain — guess what else is in the chapel? do you know why? have you ever been?
1. The Royal Chapel includes the tombs of perhaps the most famous of all monarchical couples — Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile whose marriage unified Spain.
2. Interestingly that marriage was based on a forged Papal decree granting a dispensation to marry despite the fact that Ferdinand and Isabella were second cousins.
3. This falsification led Pope Paul II to erupt with “May all Spaniards be cursed by God!”
NB: Why are the couple buried in Granada? To commemorate the climax of the reconquest of Spain from the Moors which was the fall of Granada in 1492 — the same year as the “discovery” of America by the Columbus expedition funded by none other than the same Royal Couple. The Chapel was built between 1504 and 1517 and is the largest funerary chapel in Spain. It is part of a complex that in includes the Granada Cathedral. Within the chapel is a museum that includes works by Hans Memling, Perugino, and Rogier van der Weyden, among others. All royal corpses except those of Ferdinand, Isabella, and their children were moved by Philip II (1527–1598) to El Escorial, the mammoth palace and monastery about 30 miles outside of Madrid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agony_in_the_Garden
Agony in the Garden (Bellini) — Wikipedia
Agony in the Garden (El Greco, London) — Wikipedia
The Agony in the Garden — Works — Toledo Museum of Art
Catholic Monarchs of Spain — Wikipedia
Royal Chapel of Granada — Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Marcon
https://www.lovegranada.com/monuments/royal-chapel/
THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY ARE AVAILABLE HERE:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, 11/17/20
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