Vision of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

JACOPO ROBUSTI TINTORETTO (1528-1588) (from);

JOHN BAPTIST JACKSON (1701- ca. 1780) (engraving);

London, ca. 1742.

Chiaroscuro on laid paper.

With collector’s stamp in red ink and initials “CR” in the lower right corner. Unidentified.

Good condition.

The lunar symbolism applied to the Virgin established an order of hierarchy with respect to the solar archetype that was the prerogative of God, a male divinity capable of ruling over darkness. The Moon embodied the purity of the Virgin but also her human condition.

The Moon also points out the human aspect of Jesus Christ when he appears in the famous prayer scene in the garden of Gethsemane. It is there that Christ, moments before his arrest, expresses in prayer doubts and fears typical of the most ordinary of mortals.