A FLEMISH TAPESTRY, 'CHRIST IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE', BRUSSELS, FIRST QUARTER 16TH CENTURY |

woven in wool, silk and gilt and silvered metal-thread, figuring the Christ in the garden of Gethsemane during his Passion while the apostles are sleeping, within a floral border on a dark blue ground

E. Appleton Standen, European Post Medieval tapestries and related Hangings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Vol.1, p.59-63
F. Checa, Tapisseries flamandes pour les ducs de Bourgogne, l'empereur Charles Quint, le roi Philippe Ier, p. 86-89, Fig.49-51
Birioukova, Tapisseries anciennes du musée de l'Hermitage, Prague, 1965

The photograph is quite accurate. The condition is overall good. There are the usual past restorations, especially in the skies. Lined; the outer red and yellow braid is a later addition. The tapestry has extensive metal-thread detailing: the gold threads (on the clothes of the Christ and of the apostles) are quite tarnished and would benefit from a slight cleaning to reveal their brightness. Very beautiful and precious tapestry, with refined details in the design and the execution. To recommend.
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This Passion of the Christ scene probably comes from a drawing by the very famous Bernard van Orley (1419-1541) and was realized perhaps by the workshop of Pieter van Aelst (1495-1531) or by the workshop of Pieter de Pannemaker (1517-1535) since both wove numerous Passion tapestries.  Its profoundly great aesthetic and technical quality, and its many gold threads, coheres it to a tapestry kept at the Patrimonio Nacional in Madrid, "Agony in the Garden" from the Passion of Christ series, circa 1518-1522, by Pieter de Pannemaker's workshop in Brussels, after a Bernard van Orley cartoon. 

It is also similar to another Passion of the Christ tapestry kept at the Patrimonio Nacional in Madrid depicting the "Descent from the Cross" circa 1507-1520 from Pieter van Aelst's workshop after a cartoon by Jan van Roome dated 1507. This indication is not surprising since the two painters Bernard van Orley and Jan van Roome (active 1498-1521) collaborated closely

This tapestry illustrates the Golden Age of Flemish tapestry during Magaret of Austria's era, an esthete and great collector, as in general were the Dukes of Burgundy, the House of Medici and the Habsburgs. These inventories confirm this and among them "the inventory of Mechelen" cites several tapestries of religious subjects and in particular a recurring Passion of Christ theme, called The Square Passion or The Passion of Magaret of Austria. Most of these woven arts are kept at the Patrimonio Nacional in Madrid.