3-042-468 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Agony in the Garden; Prayer Book of Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, about 1525-1530. Additional Info: Through the dramatic Miniature in the prayer book he illuminated for Cardinal Albrecht of Brandenburg, Simon Bening encouraged the viewer to identify with Jesus in his Passion. The Agony in the Garden opens the sequence of devotional texts interspersed with Passion Miniature. To heighten the emotional tension, the artist compressed three events into one scene. In the foreground the apostles have fallen asleep despite Jesus' request that they keep watch. In the center of the image, Jesus prays to God, while in the background the soldiers already approach to arrest him. Bening emphasized Jesus' emotional isolation as he prays by showing him separated from the apostles by a fence and a fallen tree. Before Jesus, an angel kneels, offering the cup that symbolizes his acceptance of death on the cross.