Sudley House collections
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The subject is Jesus praying alone in Gethsemane: the setting is a wild Scottish glen at twilight. Christ’s spiritual journey is symbolised by the stony path leading to a dense forest under a waxing moon.
Dyce, a deeply committed Christian, believed in a contemporary Christ, and represented him as a real person with whom the viewer could identify. The meticulous technique reflects Dyce’s admiration for the Pre-Raphaelites.
The painting was in the collection of John Farnworth of Liverpool, where George Holt almost certainly saw and admired it years before he was able to buy it.
Medium and Support: Oil on millboard
Date: about 1860
Accession No: WAG 221