#biblical representation

[artandthebible]

The Last Supper

Artist: Philippe de Champaigne (Flemish, 1602-1674)

Date: ca. 1652

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon, Lyon, France

[artandthebible]

The Agony in the Garden

Artist: George Richmond (English, 1809–1896

Date: 1858

Medium: Oil on panel

Collection: Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, United States

The Agony in the Garden

The garden at Gethsemane, a place whose name literally means “oil press,” is located on a slope of the Mount of Olives just across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem. A garden of ancient olive trees stands there to this day. Jesus frequently went to Gethsemane with His disciples to pray (John 18:2). The most famous events at Gethsemane occurred on the night before His crucifixion when Jesus was betrayed.

[artandthebible]

Pentecostés (Pentecost)

Artist: Friar Juan Bautista Pastrana Maino (Mexican, 1581-1649)

Date: 1615-1620

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

Description

Pentecost is significant in both the Old and New Testaments. “Pentecost” is actually the Greek name for a festival known in the Old Testament as the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:9). The Greek word means “fifty” and refers to the fifty days that have elapsed since the wave offering of Passover. The Feast of Weeks celebrated the end of the grain harvest. Most interesting, however, is its use in Joel and Acts. Looking back to Joel’s prophecy (Joel 2:28–32) and forward to the promise of the Holy Spirit in Christ’s last words on earth before His ascension into heaven (Acts 1:8), Pentecost signals the beginning of the church age.