This panel depicts the moment prior to Christ’s capture and the start of his Passion. After the last supper with his disciples, Christ departs in the company of Peter, James and John. While he prays in anguish they fall asleep, emphasising his isolation. It is part of the altarpiece or seasonal altar of the Guisando Nativity (P00683–P00690). This is a structure frequently found in numerous Spanish monastic cloisters. It comes precisely from the Hieronymite monastery of Guisando (Ávila), which was cited by Ponz in 1773. In the cloister, the altarpiece was set into a wall, forming a sort of box. On the one hand, the doors of the altarpiece depict The Visitation with Saint Jerome in Penitence on its exterior side. On the other hand, they also depict The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, which was sawn off and dismembered from the door, with The Agony in the Garden on the other side. The ensemble was completed with four prophets (David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Habakkuk). They are located on the sides of the altarpiece, acting as the minor sides of the altarpiece´s parallelepiped. Most likely, and following the formula of this type of altarpiece, a sculptural or pictorial image would round off the piece. It may be a God the Father. With the ecclesiastical confiscation, the panels of the altarpiece were dismantled and dispersed. In addition, its painter, Juan Correa de Vivar, and the provenance of the ensemble, were forgotten. It was thought to be from the monastery of Santa María de Valdeiglesias (Pelayos de la Presa, Madrid), where Correa worked between 1545 and 1550. Based on Ponz’s description, the reconstruction of the Altarpiece of the Nativity has been proposed by the researcher Isabel Mateo. She dates it to between 1533–35 given its stylistic proximity to Juan de Borgoña’s painting. The latter is a key figure in the emergence of Renaissance forms in Castile via Toledo. The combined use of the new Italian Quattrocento styles and Borgoña’s Nordic heritage made it fit right into an area with a traditional Gothic substratum, now covered by the suggestive Tuscan contributions of the aforementioned Borgoña. The Guisando Nativity still shows all the postulates learned from the Nordic master, who was still present on the Toledo scene (Borgoña died in 1536). On these dates, Correa maintained a marked sense of drawing, linked to the local use of colour. These were, at that time, somewhat harsh, which he progressively softened and brightened. He developed an elementary, notably geometrical compositional sense, using classical architectures. Despite this, he did not fully understand the one-point perspective used. This Nativity, after seeing other earlier commissions, for example, Griñon, Mora or Guadalupe, demonstrates the maturing process in the artist’s early works. It was when he established his correct artistic work from the imprint of Juan de Borgoña, without letting other contributions be clearly perceived yet.

Museo Nacional del Prado, El Greco y la pintura española del Renacimiento: guía, Madrid, Museo del Prado, Aldeasa, 2001