Agony in the Garden (San Zeno) by Andrea Mantegna, Matthew 26:36-45, Bible.Gallery

Agony in the Garden (San Zeno) created 1457 nad was completed in 1459 Its dimension is 94cm wide and 71cm high and it was drawn with tempera on panel style.

Artwork Description

Agony in the Garden (San Zeno) by Andrea Mantegna, Matthew 26:36-45, Bible.Gallery

From 1456 to 1459, Mantegna devoted himself to the monumental altarpiece commissioned by Gregorio Correr, abbot of the Benedictine monastery of San Zeno in Verona. The main panels are still in place on the high altar of the church, while the predella elements are divided between Tours and Paris. To place his personages in an all'antica vestibule running along the whole width of the main register, Mantegna took as his model Donatello's bronze altar in the Basilica of Sant'Antonio in Padua. He pushes illusionism to such an extent that he makes the natural light of the edifice, falling from a window to the right, correspond to that of the painting's fictive space, and juxtaposes the columns of the carved frame with the pilasters of the painted loggia.


The three predella panels show his fascination for the art of Flemish masters, examples of which he could have seen in Venetia: as in the Adoration of the Shepherds he multiplies realistic notations. The deep sense of nature transpiring here, the gentleness of some personages owe much to Giovanni Bellini, to whom Mantegna is still very close. But after this moment of intense poetry, he returns to a more austere and cerebral style, adopted a few years earlier in the Agony in the Garden in London.

Artist : Andrea Mantegna

Other artworks from Andrea Mantegna

Ascension of Christ by Andrea Mantegna Acts 1:1-10

Presentation at the Temple by Andrea Mantegna Luke 2:22-40

The Circumcision by Andrea Mantegna Luke 2

The Crucifixion by Andrea Mantegna Luke 23:26-47

The Resurrection by Andrea Mantegna Matthew 28:1-10

Other artworks you may enjoy

Abraham Casting Out Hagar and Ishmael by Pieter Lastman Genesis 21:8-21

Abraham Entertains Three Strangers by Gustave Doré Genesis 18:1-15

Abraham Meets Melchizedek by Peter Paul Rubens Genesis 14

Abraham meets the Three Angels by Ferdinand Bol Genesis 18:1-15

Abraham Serving the Three Angels by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn Genesis 18:1-12

Abraham's Sacrifice of Isaac by Federico Bencovich Genesis 22:1-19

Adam and Eve by Hans Holbein the Younger Genesis 3:1-13

Adam and Eve (1526) by Lucas Cranach, the Elder Genesis 3

Adoration of the Lamb by Michiel Coxie Revelation 5

Adoration of the Magi by Pieter Aertsen Matthew 2:1-12

Adoration of the Shepherds by Gerard Van Honthorst Luke 2:1-21

Agony in the Garden by Johann Heinrich Schönfeld Luke 22:39-46