The Agony in the Garden

Eugène Delacroix

1823–24 · Brush and brown wash over graphite · Drawings and Prints

Delacroix’s first official religious commission was a painting for the church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis in Paris. This study establishes the basic composition: Christ props himself up against a rock, bows his head, and raises his hand to acknowledge acceptance of his fate, announced by the mourning angels in the upper right. Delacroix’s use of wash, with its emphasis on tone, establishes the symbolic importance of light in the picture; it radiates from the angels and Christ himself amid the darkness of the garden.

Artist

Eugène Delacroix

Date

1823–24

Medium

Brush and brown wash over graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift from the Karen B. Cohen Collection of Eugène Delacroix, in memory of Jacob Bean, 2013