Agony in the Garden (Bellini)

The Agony in the Garden
The Agony in the Garden
Artist	Giovanni Bellini
Year	c. 1459–1465
Medium	Tempera on panel
Dimensions	81 cm × 127 cm (32 in × 50 in)
Location	National Gallery, London

The Agony in the Garden is an early painting by the Italian Renaissance master Giovanni Bellini, who painted it around 1459–65. It is in the National Gallery, London.

It portrays Christ kneeling on the Mount of Olives in prayer, with his disciples Peter, James and John sleeping near to him. In the background, Judas leads the Roman soldiers to capture Christ.

The picture is closely related to the similar work by Bellini's brother-in-law, Andrea Mantegna, also in the National Gallery. It is likely that both derived from a drawing by Bellini's father, Jacopo.^[1] In Bellini's version, the treatment of dawn light has a more important role in giving the scene a quasi-unearthly atmosphere.

Until the mid-19th century Early Renaissance paintings were regarded as curiosities by most collectors. This one had probably belonged to Consul Smith in Venice (d. 1770), was bought by William Beckford at the Joshua Reynolds sale in 1795 for £5, then sold in 1823 with Fonthill Abbey and repurchased by Beckford at the Fonthill Sale the next year (as a Mantegna) for £52.10s. It was bought by the National Gallery for £630 in 1863, still a low price for the day.^[2]

The painting was amongst five paintings including Bellini's Portrait of a Mathematician that was damaged in a suffragette protest by Grace Marcon (aka Frieda Graham) in 1914. She was sentenced to six months but she was released the next month weak from a hunger strike protest.^[3]

References[]

Ballarin, A. (1987). "Bellini". Diccionario Larousse de la pintura. Planeta-De Agostini. ISBN 84-395-0649-X.
Reitlinger, Gerald; The Economics of Taste, Vol I: The Rise and Fall of Picture Prices 1760–1960, Barrie and Rockliffe, London, 1961

Footnotes[]

^ "National Gallery website". Archived from the original on 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2007-06-25.
^ Reitlinger, I, 122
^ "Celebrating Suffragette courage on London History Day". Museum of London. Retrieved 2020-02-10.

External links[]

[1] "National Gallery website". Archived from the original on 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2007-06-25.

[2] Reitlinger, I, 122

[3] "Celebrating Suffragette courage on London History Day". Museum of London. Retrieved 2020-02-10.

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v t Giovanni Bellini
List of works
Paintings	St. Jerome in the Desert (Birmingham) Madonna and Child (Pavia) Transfiguration (Venice) Pietà (Bergamo) Crucifixion Pietà (Milan) Agony in the Garden Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels Presentation at the Temple Christ Blessing (Paris) Frizzoni Madonna Madonna and Child Blessing The Blood of the Redeemer Madonna and Child (Milan, 1460–1465) Greek Madonna Nativity Triptych Saint Vincent Ferrer Altarpiece San Lorenzo Triptych San Sebastiano Triptych Triptych of the Madonna The Head of St John the Baptist Dead Christ Supported by Two Angels (Berlin) Dead Christ Supported by Angels (Rimini) The Dead Christ Supported by the Virgin Mary and St John the Evangelist Lehman Madonna Pesaro Altarpiece Portrait of Georg Fugger Lochis Madonna Madonna and Child (Verona) Enthroned Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child Madonna and Child (Venice, 1475) Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child St. Francis in Ecstasy Contarini Madonna Resurrection of Christ Portrait of a Humanist Transfiguration of Christ (Naples) Willys Madonna St. Jerome in the Desert (Florence) St. Jerome Reading in the Countryside Alzano Madonna Madonna of the Red Cherubims Madonna and Child (New York, late 1480s) San Giobbe Altarpiece Madonna and Child with Saint Peter and Saint Sebastian Madonna of the Small Trees Barbarigo Altarpiece Frari Triptych Madonna and Child with Saint Mary Magdalene and Saint Ursula Portrait of a Young Man in Red Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John the Baptist Portrait of a Young Man (Paris) Holy Allegory Portrait of a Young Senator Allegories Portrait of a Condottiero Annunciation Christ Blessing (Fort Worth) Circumcision of Christ* Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Florence) Portrait of a Young Man (Washington) Self-Portrait Portrait of a Young Man (Liverpool) Baptism of Christ Head of the Redeemer Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan Madonna and Child with St. John the Baptist and a Female Saint Martinengo Pietà Portrait of a Young Man (Royal Collection) St. Jerome in the Desert (Washington) San Zaccaria Altarpiece Madonna del Prato The Infant Bacchus Sacred Conversation (Madrid) St. Mark Preaching in Alexandria The Assassination of Saint Peter Martyr Madonna and Child with Four Saints and Donor The Continence of Scipio Madonna and Child (Detroit) Madonna and Child (Rome) Madonna and Child (Milan, 1510) Virgin in Glory with Saints Saints Christopher, Jerome and Louis of Toulouse The Feast of the Gods Drunkenness of Noah Naked Young Woman in Front of a Mirror Portrait of Fra Teodoro of Urbino as Saint Dominic Deposition
Family	Jacopo Bellini (father) Gentile Bellini (brother) Andrea Mantegna (brother-in-law)
* Workshop