Christ on the Mount of Olives

The diagonal of the praying Christ and angel intersects the whole composition. The scene is built up on the the sharp contrast of light between the celestial and terrestrial spheres. The reflection of light emphasizing the angel’s spread-out arms that show the way, with a chalice as its centre, falls on Christ’s arms and chest. It also illuminates the head of the sleeping St Peter. The other apostles are shrouded in shade. The scene’s central motif is represented by Christ’s clasped hands. Troger’s painting is one of a number of other works depicting this subject. The canon of the elongated figure of Christ rising in a spiral-like motion, including the voluminous folds of Christ’s robes, is distinctive of Troger and had a strong impact on the treatment of this figure type by Troger’s followers. The figure of the angel, dramatically gesturing in a forceful motion, appeared in the artist’s work from the mid-1730s. We date this painting to that period.