Inscribed at lower right in graphite, "early 18th"; inscribed on verso in graphite, "E9423 [...] 9/12".
Watermark: Letters "FS" with trefoil on vertical stick. Watermark, beta radiograph. "FS" trefoil vertical stick 283478wm_2009_349_WM_beta.jpg
The present sheet belongs to a series of eleven anonymous German drawings illustrating the Passion of Christ. Five drawings from the series are now in the Morgan's collection. Christ is shown in the Garden of Gethsemane and he is accompanied by St. Peter, St. John, and St. James the Greater, who are sleeping in the middle ground of the drawing. While Christ's anguish is narrated by other apostles, only St. Luke mentions the visitation of the angel, an event depicted in this drawing. The drawings in this series are rendered in a frame with a horizontal strip left blank at the lower margin, suggesting the drawings served in preparation for engravings. Each drawing was first composed in red chalk and then retouched in pen and black ink.
McCrindle, Joseph F., former owner.