Christus am Ölberg

The Master of the Freising Passion painted this Christ on the Mount of Olives around 1485 as part of his extensive Passion cycle for Freising Cathedral. The Agony in the Garden, where Christ prayed while his disciples slept, was the first scene of the Passion proper. The Freising Master's emotionally charged treatment creates a powerful meditation on Christ's suffering. This work belongs to the Early Renaissance, the transformative period in European art when painters first applied mathematical perspective, naturalistic figure modeling, and archaeological interest in antiquity to the inherited traditions of medieval devotional painting.

Oil on panel with dramatic nocturnal atmosphere for the Garden of Gethsemane scene. The contrast between the anguished Christ and sleeping apostles is rendered with the Master's characteristic emotional intensity.