Jacopo Ligozzi (around 1547 Verona - 1627 Florence), Christ on the Mount of Olives

The black slate plate forms the colored foil for the theme of the depiction, in which Jesus kneels in front of a night-black sky, arms outstretched, palms open, gaze directed into the upper corner. There an angel appears in a bright cloudscape with a chalice, according to the word attributed to Jesus, "Let the chalice pass me by". Below the illuminated hilltop of the meadow three of the sleeping apostles, in which the figure on the right probably means Peter, the sleeping disciple leaning on the left is recognizable as the evangelist of John by his green and red clothing alone. The technique of painting on black stone is found several times in Ligozzi's work. The painter also made use of this technique in his well-known painting of the Allegory of the Descent from the Cross, which is in the Prado Madrid.

The painter learned in the workshop of his father, who had worked for the Trento prince-bishop Cristoforo Madruzzo in 1557. Together with his father, then independently, he worked for furnishing various churches in the region until he was called to Florence in 1577/78 by Francesco I de 'Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Oil on black slate, 30 x 23 cm