MANTEGNA, Andrea
(b. 1431, Isola di Carturo, d. 1506, Mantova)

Agony in the Garden

1457-59
Tempera on panel, 72 x 94 cm
Musée des Beaux-Arts, Tours

This panel is from the predella of the San Zeno Polyptych, it was located at the left of the Crucifixion panel. The three original predella panels are now in France (in Paris and Tours), they were appropriated as war booty during the Napoleonic war. In Verona, the predella panels were replaced by canves copies during the 19th century.

The composition of this picture is similar to the version of the same subject in the National Gallery in London. Gethsemane is better described as an orchard than as a garden. An angel is floating on high with the cup that symbolizes the inexorable fate reserved for Christ.