The Agony in the Garden

This painting by Andrea Mantegna shows the Gospel episode of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before his arrest. Christ kneels in prayer in the foreground, while in the distance Judas approaches with a band of soldiers from Jerusalem to seize him. His disciples Peter, James and John lie asleep in the lower part of the scene, unaware of what is about to happen. At upper left, a group of cherubs holds the instruments of the Passion, anticipating the death that awaits the central figure. The composition is divided into two overlapping triangular zones separated by a diagonal, a structure typical of Renaissance painting. Mantegna uses the landscape to tell the story within a single image: the soldiers marching from the city walls build tension and suggest the passing of time. The sleeping disciple, seen with his legs toward the viewer, is a difficult pose that reveals the painter's interest in foreshortening. The apostles also recall statues of classical antiquity, a subject that fascinated the artist. The work is executed in egg tempera on wood panel, a medium that allows minute detail.

Painter

Andrea Mantegna

Date

1450

Medium

tempera, panel

Dimensions

63 × 80 cm

Museum

National Gallery, London

Genre

religious art

Depicts

Agony in the Garden, Jesus Christ, Saint Peter, St. James the Elder, John the Apostle, Judas Iscariot

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