VELDE, Adriaen van de
(b. 1636, Amsterdam, d. 1672, Amsterdam)

Agony in the Garden

1665
Oil on canvas, 126 x 154 cm
Private collection

This picture belongs to the important group of large-scale religious works by Adriaen van de Velde executed in the 1660s for Catholic places of worship in Amsterdam. Van de Velde's work for Catholic commissioners followed his marriage in 1657, when he converted to Catholicism. His activity as a painter for Catholic churches in the 1660s is not an isolated phenomenon. Painters such as his fellow-citizen Karel Dujardin and Nicolaes Berchem are also known to have painted altarpieces for hidden Catholic churches in those years.