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Gethsemane by Ian Fleming
Gethsemane
Gethsemane by Ian Fleming
Gethsemane by Ian Fleming

Gethsemane

Artist (Glasgow, Scotland, 1906 - 1994)
Associated
Date1929
Mediumpencil on paper
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
DimensionsOverall: Height: 34.3 cm, Width: 44.4 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1991 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.
Copyright© By permission of the Fleming Family (2002)
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG009616
About MeThe garden of Gethsemane was where, according to the New Testament, Christ was arrested the night before his crucifixion. This etching was created in 1929 when Ian Fleming was still at art school in Glasgow. The students received a monthly composition from their tutors, which was often of a religious nature. Here Fleming has taken a traditional subject and given it a modern context. Christ and his disciples, who are asleep under a tree as they are in the original story, are dressed in modern clothes. The buildings on the horizon are also modern and the park in fact bears a resemblance to Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow, near to where Fleming lived as a student.
More About Me
Gethsemane is known to many as a garden in Jerusalem, at the base of the Mount of Olives, where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before his crucifixion. Fleming has here chosen to depict it as a modern backdrop, complete with buildings and clothes.