The Story
The Betrayal of Christ, late 1650s. Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, 1593–1678). Oil on canvas; framed: 249 x 271.5 x 8 cm (98 1/16 x 106 7/8 x 3 1/8 in.); unframed: 225.5 x 246.3 cm (88 3/4 x 96 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1970.32
Created in 1650 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Jacob Jordaens worked at a moment when the rivalry between Catholic Baroque drama and Protestant restraint reshaped what a painting could mean. Every gesture, fabric, and gleam of light was decoded by contemporary viewers like a private language.
Executed in oil on canvas, measuring Framed: 249 x 271.5 x 8 cm (98 1/16 x 106 7/8 x 3 1/8 in.); Unframed: 225.5 x 246.3 cm (88 3/4 x 96 15/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Jacob Jordaens builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
