Agony in the Garden
Arrest of Christ
Purchased on the Belle da Costa Greene Fund with the assistance of the Fellows, 1963; purchased on the Belle da Costa Greene Fund with the assistance of the Fellows and with special assistance of Mrs. Frederick B. Adams, Sr., Mrs. Robert Charles, Mr. L
Like the Hours of the Virgin, the Hours of the Passion marked each of its textual divisions with juxtaposed full- and half-page miniatures. Thus Christ's Passion unfolds with a rich suite of sixteen illustrations. The cycle commences with Christ in the garden of Gethsemane. While apostles doze, the Savior beseeches his Father to remove the cup before him. The cup, a chalice containing a communion wafer, symbolizes both his forthcoming death and the Eucharist. The Eucharistic theme is reiterated by the border vignette of the pelican feeding her young with her own blood, a symbol of Christ's sacrificial Death on the Cross. In the next scene, following Judas's kiss, soldiers seize Christ, who calmly replaces the ear that Peter has sliced from Malchus.