The Arrest of Christ

When it was exhibited in 1858 at Munich it attracted much positive attention.  One critic praised its powerful psychological depiction of Judas’s guilt, so distinct from Christ’s “enduring nobility.” Indeed, Hofmann’s ability to evoke Christ’s serenity and inward deity against the psychological turmoil of his earthly companions soon became a key feature in the artist’s religious works.  Because of its acclaimed reception, the painting was purchased by Darmstadt’s leading museum.
 
Having recently returned from Rome, this was just the encouragement that Hofmann needed to pursue more ambitious pieces.  Nevertheless with a new young wife to support, Hofmann still felt obligated to earn an income through portraiture.  Throughout the 1860s and 70s Hofmann presented a smattering of religious subjects, while portraits still reigned as the dominant genre in his oeuvre until the 1880s when Hofmann decisively turned toward religious painting. 
 
After waves of secular modernist art sidelined religious traditionalist painting as old-fashioned, The Capture of Christ was nearly forgotten.  Hidden away in museum storage for decades, this is a rare opportunity to see Hofmann’s first great success in the genre of religious painting.  

The Capture of Christ illustrates a dramatic scene from Matthew 26: 47-57.  Two richly dressed Pharisees lead the procession of armed guards and Jesus Christ.  The haloed Christ, bound at the wrist, is pulled forward toward an unjust judgment and crucifixion.  To the left a remorseful Judas broods, clutching his bag of thirty silver coins for which he had betrayed the Savior.  The walled city of Jerusalem is visible in the background as the first light of dawn appears.