Label
"In this painting Bloch seems to visualize the second time Jesus, having admonished his disciples for having fallen asleep, goes away to pray again: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done” (Matthew 26:42). The kneeling Christ dominates the night-time landscape. His shock of red hair, his luminous white cloak act as “light shining in the darkness.” Already Bloch’s very first painting of Christ (1911) shows him with flaming red hair and beard. Many artists before Bloch have shown Jesus – about whom no physical description exists in the New Testament – with red hair, as early as in the 6th century illuminated manuscript of the Rabula Gospels. Here he bows his head, a gesture of humility and submission. The open palm of Christ’s right hand suggests that Bloch shows the moment when Christ concludes his prayer by accepting God’s will. In the background at the foot of the hill Judas with chief priests’ armed men are approaching to arrest him." - Guest Curator, Dr. Reinhild Janzen