The drawing depicts the moment right after Christ’s capture, when he is led away from the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:44). An almost identical version of this composition, though lacking the inscription, is in the Uffizi, Florence (inv. 848E; Newcome Schleier 1989, 28); a copy by a minor hand in the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (inv. 622). A preceding incident of Soldiers Crossing a Bridge over the Brook Hebrow, on Their Way to the Garden of Gethsemane is in the British Museum (inv. 1946,0713.286); inferior versions of that composition are in Stuttgart (inv. 6223) and Besançon (inv. 3004). Further moments of the biblical story of the Passion of Christ are illustrated in drawings of the Capture of Christ in the Uffizi (Magnani 1995, no. 249), and Darmstadt (inv. 1352 and 1357) – all five compositions are en suite and may have been part of the same project.
Watermark: none.
Inscribed at lower right, in pen and brown ink, by the artist(?), "di mano dello Cambiagio St"; on verso of lining, in graphite, "Cop.(?) Wilson; 5-0-0; A162 Cambiaso - Platt Coll.; 7100".
Platt, Dan Fellows, 1873-1938, former owner.
Scholz, János, former owner.
Princeton 1925; Smith College 1927; Tietze 1947, no. 45; Philadelphia 1950-51, no. 45; Oakland and elsewhere 1956, no. 11; Columbia 1961, no. 9; Los Angeles and elsewhere 1967-68, no. 9; New York 1967-68, no. 54; Newcome Schleier 1989, 28.
Scholz 1961, no. 33.
Scholz 1963-4, no. 23.
Oberhuber, Konrad, and Dean Walker. Sixteenth Century Italian Drawings From the Collection of Janos Scholz. Washington, D.C. : National Gallery of Art ; New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1973, no. no. 39, repr. (includes full bibliography and exhibitions).
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Seventeenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1972-1974. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1976, p. 156-157.