Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

An inventory of the Savoy picture collection drawn up in 1635 already lists this canvas, and the gallery dates it to around 1634 to 1635. It went from the easel into the ducal collection within a year or so, painted by a Lombard newly in the duke's service.

The subject is the night before the Crucifixion. After the Last Supper, Christ went with three of his disciples to the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives, prayed that the cup might pass from him, and came back to find them asleep. Luke's Gospel adds an angel who appeared to strengthen him, and sweat that fell like drops of blood.

Francesco Cairo came back to this scene more than once. An earlier version, painted around 1630 to 1633, was once in a private collection in Bergamo.