page_title: Agony in the Garden (Blake)
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Agony in the Garden (Blake) / Description
caption_attribution_description: The Nativity, (c. 1790-1800), tempera on copper, 27.3 x 38.2 cm, in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
context_page_description: The Agony in the Garden is a small painting by William Blake, completed as part of his 1799–1800 series of Bible illustrations commissioned by his patron and friend Thomas Butts. The work illustrates a passage from the Gospel of Luke which describes Christ's turmoil in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest and Crucifixion following Judas's betrayal. In Blake's painting a brilliantly coloured and majestic angel breaks through the surrounding darkness and descends from a cloud to aid and physically support Jesus in his hour of agony. The work is dominated by vertical lines, formed both from the trees and from the two arms of the angel. Two inner lines converge on Christ's palms, evoking the nails driven through him during his crucifixion.
  The Agony in the Garden was bequeathed by Blake collector Graham Robertson to the National Trust in 1948. It was acquired by the Tate Gallery the following year.
context_section_description: Between 1799 and 1803, Blake produced over 150 biblical illustrations for Thomas Butts. Around 50 were complete for the 1799–1880 series, of which around 30 are extant. They are all around the same size; all but two are significantly larger than the average 28cm x 38cm. Only the present work is on tinned steel; the majority of the others are painted on canvas. The works, all minutely detailed and richly coloured, involve complex and innovative arrangement and design.
  The text accompanying The Agony in the Garden reads: "And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." The painting shows Christ kneeling in the garden with his arms outstretched and leaning backwards as if about to faint. He is held at the waist by an angel descending from a multi-coloured cloud. The angel supports Christ as he leans back, crying out in agony. Both the angel and cloud are composed by a dominant impasted white, and lined with brilliant varieties of red, blue, yellow and green pigments. Three vaguely described, almost ghostly, disciples kneel in the dark trees to either side. 
  Art historian Anthony Blunt linked this work to Blake's Nativity and Procession to Calvary, and contended that they provide insight to Blake's mindset at the time. The artist had earlier been preoccupied with the nature of evil and the duality of human nature, but seemingly emerged and found hope through the ideal of salvation through Christ. According to Blunt, Blake conveys this through the motif of a bright light shining into the darkness of mankind. In the present work this is perhaps expressed through the angel appearing in brilliantly illuminated colours from the darkness and foreboding of the trees.
  The work is built up from a number of layers of paint above the underlying priming. In some cases the layers are separated by films of binding glue. The foreground is built from a chalk ground above the priming, which gives added texture, and is especially evident around the areas of the trees and scrubs.
caption: Nativity, 1790–1800. Tempera on copper. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
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