Christ on the Mount of Olives

This idiosyncratic painting appears to be by a Spanish painter, though it shows strong Italianate influences, and has been associated with Pedro Machuca. The Portuguese painter, architect, and humanist, Francisco de Holanda (1517–1585), named Machuca as one of the four águilas (eagles) of the Spanish Renaissance, alongside Bartolomé Ordóñez, Diego de Siloe, and Alonso Berruguete, crediting him with helping introduce the Italian Renaissance style to Spain. While many innovations of Italian masters reached Spain indirectly through prints, Machuca himself brought direct experience of Italy, having encountered both Raphael and Michelangelo, during his brief but transformative Italian sojourn between 1515-1517. The muscular figures in the present work are vaguely Michelangelesque, while the accentuated gestures and heightened expressivity reflect Machuca’s later, eclectic manner.