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The Agony in the Garden

1626–27
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 623

Poussin executed this painting just after arriving in Rome, when he was brimming with innovation and curiosity but had not yet attained a firm footing in the city’s art world. It soon entered the collection of Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo, the brother of Poussin’s most significant Roman patron, the antiquarian-connoisseur Cassiano dal Pozzo. A zigzag composition unites two scenes: Christ anticipates his mortal death by crucifixion while his disciples slumber. The foreground figures’ monumentality and the architecture document Poussin’s fascination with the classical world, while the treatment of light in this nocturnal scene and the cascade of putti come from his interest in Venetian Renaissance painters. Poussin’s rare use of a copper support made it a particularly precious artwork.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Agony in the Garden
  • Artist: Nicolas Poussin (French, Les Andelys 1594–1665 Rome)
  • Date: 1626–27
  • Medium: Oil on copper
  • Dimensions: 24 1/8 × 19 1/8 in. (61.3 × 48.6 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Jon and Barbara Landau, in honor of Keith Christiansen, 2021
  • Object Number: 2021.378
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

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Scenes from the Story of Moses
Multiple artists/makers
ca. 1820–25
Study of a Group of Trees, Nicolas Poussin French, Pen and brown ink
Study of a Group of Trees
Nicolas Poussin
Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée)
ca. 1625–50
Study of a Group of Trees, Nicolas Poussin French, Pen and brown ink
Study of a Group of Trees
Nicolas Poussin
Claude Lorrain (Claude Gellée)
ca. 1625–50
Winter, Nicolas Poussin French, Engraving
Winter
Nicolas Poussin
Jean Audran
n.d.
A Male Child Lifting his Dress to Urinate Near Kneeling Women
Nicolas Poussin
1806

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