Scenes from the Passion of Christ: The Agony in the Garden [left panel]

Andrea Vanni

National Gallery of Art

On a ledge-like rocky outcropping, a man kneels and looks up at an angel while, below and closer to us, three people sit or lie near the same man, who is shown twice in this vertical painting. The people have light skin with a greenish cast, though their cheeks are flushed, and they have flat, gold halos around their heads. In both appearances, Jesus has long, wavy, amber-blond hair, a beard, and a long straight nose. He wears a lapis-blue robe under a rose-pink cloak, which are edged in gold. Closest to us, he stands near the lower left corner of the composition, facing our right almost in profile. He holds one hand to his chest and with the other, clasps the hand of a man kneeling in front of him. That man, Saint Peter, wears a sky-blue robe and a canary-yellow cloak, and he has a gray beard and hair. His brows are lowered and furrowed as he reaches for and looks up at Jesus. Between Jesus and Saint Peter, a cleanshaven young man, also with blond hair, sleeps sitting up with his head propped on one hand. He wears a sage-green robe under a sky-blue cloak. Another man lies on his stomach beyond the others, so his head, resting on his folded arms, nearly reaches the right edge of the panel. He wears the same blue and pink of Jesus, and also has blond hair. Beyond this trio, a garden separates the four men close to us from the kneeling Jesus above. The garden has a hedge of pale pink roses, two small trees with red flowers, and rows of vegetation painted with pine green. That second, kneeling Jesus folds his arms across his chest, and his face and neck are dotted with touches of scarlet red. He looks up at a miniature winged angel, whose robe and wings are marigold orange. The angel holds out a golden chalice, which blends into the shiny gold background behind the people. Beyond the mount with the kneeling Jesus, a steep, narrow, charcoal-gray hill rises in the distance, to our left. About a dozen soldiers carrying lances and shields, on horseback and on foot, ride or walk from a fortified castle. A man with a dark halo, wearing a red robe and gray cloak, walks near the front of the line. The panel comes to a pointed arch at the top, and the corners are filled with raised vines and flowers, also painted gold.