The Story
The Agony in the Garden by Nicolas Poussin. Gift of Jon and Barbara Landau, in honor of Keith Christiansen, 2021
Created in 1627 during the Baroque period, this work belongs firmly within the religion & mythology tradition. Nicolas Poussin 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 copper, measuring 24 1/8 × 19 1/8 in. (61.3 × 48.6 cm), the surface rewards close looking. Nicolas Poussin 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.”
