Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

1522–26

or Gerhard Remisch

(German)

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Culture

Germany, Cologne

Medium

pot-metal and white glass, silver stain and sanguine

Measurements

Overall: 73.7 x 71.8 cm (29 x 28 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of S. Livingstone Mather, Constance Mather Bishop, Philip R. Mather, Katherine Hoyt Cross, and Katherine Mather McLean in accordance with the wishes of Samuel Mather 1940.340.1

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Location

111 German and Austrian Gothic

Description

These two stained glass panels originally belonged to an extensive program of Old and New Testament subjects that originally decorated the cloister of the Cistercian Abbey of Mariawald, near Cologne, Germany. The original placement of glass at Mariawald involved windows composed of two openings. Each comprised three large glass panels plus a smaller tracery panel. Two scenes in each window represented Old Testament subjects (below) and the New Testament (above). Above the biblical narrative panels were smaller messenger panels depicting images of prophets with scrolls. At the base of each window were donor and patron saint panels. In this way, the Old Testament was shown to prefigure the events of the New. These two panels depicting scenes of Christ’s Passion were originally located in the north corner of the east cloister gallery with the Kiss of Judas on the left, and Christ in Gethsemane on the right. Mariawald was founded in 1480 and closed in 1802 when the stained glass windows were removed. Other panels from the series are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Recent scholarship has attributed the glass to the Rhenish glass painters Everhard Rensig or Gerhard Remisch.

$A vertically oriented stained glass panel in greens, reds, and golds depicts people with light skin tones. On the left, a soldier stands in armor and red leggings. At the center, three men, including haloed Christ, sleep on rolling hills. Above, Christ kneels toward a golden chalice while soldiers approach a distant walled city. A decorative column with a carved woman borders the right. Thick black lead lines partition the fractured glass.$