Carved and originally polychromed. The reverse is flat. The relief, together with The Last Supper (BK-NM-1229), belonged to the same Passion retable.

The top part of the chalice standing on the rock formation, Peter’s hand and the sword’s grip, the left hand of the foremost soldier and three slats of the palisade are missing. The polychromy has been removed.

…; ? Bridgettine abbey Mariënwater, Koudewater (near Rosmalen), date unknown;¹¹For the history of these abbeys and the transitional period and transfer of the art patrimony, see L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Beelden in de abdij: Middeleeuwse kunst uit het noordelijk deel van het hertogdom Brabant, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1999, pp. 39-57, 62-64. ? transferred to the Bridgettine convent Maria Refugie, Uden, 1713-24;²²Ibid. from which to the Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst, The Hague, with numerous other sculptures (BK-NM-1195 to -1243), fl. 2,000 for all, 1875; transferred to the museum, 1885; on loan to the Museum Krona (formerly known as the Museum voor Religieuze Kunst), Uden, inv. no. 0027, since 1973

Object number: BK-NM-1228

This retable group shows Christ, who together with three of his disciples has retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane , in the aftermath of the Last Supper to pray in the knowledge that he is about to be betrayed and sentenced (Matthew 26:36-46; Mark 14:32-42; Luke 22:39-46).³³For the iconography of the Agony in the Garden, see E. Kirschbaum (ed.), Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, vol. 3, Freiburg 1971, cols. 342-49. On the steep rock formation before which Christ kneels stood originally the chalice that appeared to him while in prayer, strengthening him in facing his impending death. Only the foot of the chalice has survived. In the foreground, Christ’s disciples lie sleeping, despite his plea for them to remain awake, voiced three times. St Peter lies in the middle, embracing the sword he later wields to cut off the ear of one of the soldiers – Malchus, a servant of the high priest Caiaphas – in an attempt to circumvent Christ’s arrest. The apostle on the right sleeps in an upright position while leaning on a book. On the basis of his youthful appearance and beardless face, this figure can only be St John. In accordance with Bible scripture, the apostle on the left is to be identified as St James. Approaching from the rear is a group of soldiers led by the figure of Judas, whose identity can be deduced from the money satchel in his hand, which contains the thirty silver pieces bestowed on him as a reward for his betrayal. In terms of style and composition, this relief is somewhat similar to a retable group in the Museum Krona, Uden, which dates from the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Depicting the same scene, it likewise consists of four individual figures: Christ in prayer accompanied by three sleeping apostles. Based on an affinity with the work of Adriaen van Wesel (c. 1417-in or after 1490), this group is most commonly situated in Utrecht.⁴⁴Uden, Museum Krona, inv. no. 2503, see M. Leeflang et al., Middeleeuwse beelden uit Utrecht 1430-1530/Mittelalterliche Bildwerke aus Utrecht, exh. cat. Utrecht (Museum Catharijneconvent)/Aachen (Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum) 2012-13, no. 36. A second possible interpretation describes this work as the product of a woodcarver in Brussels, influenced by sculptural production in Utrecht, see ibid. p. 249. For the present group, a broader designation as ‘Northern Netherlands’ applies.

Another group preserved in the Rijksmuseum, The Last Supper (BK-NM-1229), not only shares the same provenance as the present work but also certainly comes from the same altarpiece. Undoubtedly centring on the theme of Christ’s Passion, this retable was probably originally in the possession of the double abbey Mariënwater in the northern Brabantine village of Koudewater, the former residence of the Bridgettine nuns inhabiting the convent of Maria Refugie in Uden that sold these reliefs to the Rijksmuseum in 1875. On the basis of the distinct grouping of the figures, the gently falling folds of the robes and the somewhat compacted bodies, these retable groups can be localized in the Northern Netherlands. This may suggest that the inhabitants of the former double abbey also commissioned works from workshops beyond the borders of Brabant. As Van Liebergen suggests, one must also acknowledge the possibility that this Passion retable may initially have belonged to a daughter abbey located farther to the north that was dissolved during the Reformation, with its possessions subsequently transferred to the abbey in Koudewater or directly to the convent in Uden at a later time.⁵⁵L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Beelden in de abdij: Middeleeuwse kunst uit het noordelijk deel van het hertogdom Brabant, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1999, p. 165.

Bieke van der Mark, 2024

J. Leeuwenberg with the assistance of W. Halsema-Kubes, Beeldhouwkunst in het Rijksmuseum, coll. cat. Amsterdam 1973, no. 091b, with earlier literature; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Birgitta van Zweden, 1303-1373: 600 jaar kunst en cultuur van haar kloosterorde, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1986, no. 92; L.C.B.M. van Liebergen, Beelden in de abdij: Middeleeuwse kunst uit het noordelijk deel van het hertogdom Brabant, exh. cat. Uden (Museum voor Religieuze Kunst) 1999, no. 82

B. van der Mark, 2024, 'anonymous, Agony in the Garden, from a Passion Retable, Northern Netherlands, c. 1515 - c. 1520', in F. Scholten and B. van der Mark (eds.), European Sculpture in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200115857