The Prayer in the Garden

Luis Juárez was born in México City around 1585, starting the Juárez painting dynasty and being followed by José Juárez and the brothers Juan and Nicolás Rodríguez Juárez. He was trained in the workshop of Baltasar de Echave Orio and, in his work, one can still note a strong Flemish influence that was handed down from father to son over four generations. This painting evokes an incident from the life of Christ, showing Jesus kneeling on the Mount of Olives moments before being seized in order to be condemned and crucified. This is a Mannerist portrayal in which the artist uses primary colors and creates three compositional scenes or planes. On the first plane, we see the figure of Christ with His back to a tree, kneeling before an angel who, symbolizing glory, holds a chalice and offers Christ the consolation which He needs at such a time. The stiffly attired figures are set against a dark background. The three characters reposing in the lower part of the composition are the apostles Peter, John and James the Elder, who have fallen asleep. The artist was doubtless familiar with the work on the same topic executed by his teacher, so that the similarity with the latter’s composition hardly surprises us, though the present work displays an intense chiaroscuro which forebodes the Tenebrist fashion that then held sway in New Spain. Light plays a vital role, both defining and underlining the most important features of the work, such as the face and hands of Christ, and imbuing it with drama. This piece passed to the MUNAL from the San Diego Viceregal Painting Gallery in the year 2000.