L'Agonie au jardin des Oliviers

El Greco spent the second half of his life in Toledo, in Spain, and this scene of Christ praying in the garden of Gethsemane was one he clearly did well from. He and his workshop turned out several versions, which usually means clients kept asking for it. The subject fit the moment. This was Counter-Reformation Spain, a time of intense private devotion, and a picture of Christ steeling himself for his arrest was made for prayer. He paints it his own way, the figures stretched tall, the colours sharp and slightly unreal, three apostles asleep at the left while soldiers gather at the right. The finest of these versions left Toledo in Spain and ended up in the other Toledo, in Ohio.