DONATELLO
(b. ca. 1386, Firenze, d. 1466, Firenze)

Christ in Gethsemane

1460-65
Bronze
San Lorenzo, Florence

This relief is on the Passion Pulpit. The disciples stayed behind at the foot of the Mount of Olives and were overcome by sleep, while Christ went into the garden of the Gethsemane in order to pray. The positioning of the sleepers alone is enough to give the towering rock massif that forms the scene here a sense of depth. The sequencing extends from the smaller proportioned disciples at the right below Christ to those at the front who have not sunk down in the landscape, but on the edge of the relief in front of the framing columns.