Probably by Lo Spagna, 'The Agony in the Garden', perhaps 1500-5
About the work
Overview
Christ kneels on a grassy hillock, hands folded in prayer, and looks up at a floating angel who carries a chalice. At the front, three of the apostles slumber, heads resting on their arms or hands. Soldiers wearing fantastic Renaissance versions of classical armour approach from the sides, led by Judas, who has betrayed Christ’s location to them. This is the Agony in the Garden, as told in the Gospel of Mark (14: 32–43).
This painting was once thought to be by the young Raphael but is now attributed to Lo Spagna, another pupil of Perugino. It is based largely on Perugino’s Agony in the Garden (Uffizi, Florence) which was painted in the 1490s. At this time, artists used various techniques for designing pictures, including transferring figures from cartoons (full size and usually detailed preparations on paper for a painting). Fragments of a pricked cartoon for the four principal figures here are also in the Uffizi.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Agony in the Garden
- Artist
- Probably by Lo Spagna
- Artist dates
- active 1504; died 1528
- Date made
- perhaps 1500-5
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 60.3 × 67.3 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1878
- Inventory number
- NG1032
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 20th-century Replica Frame
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1839J.D. Passavant, Rafael von Urbino und sein Vater Giovanni Santi, 3 vols, Leipzig 1839
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1864J.A. Crowe and G.B. Cavalcaselle, A New History of Painting in Italy: From the Second to the Sixteenth Century, 3 vols, London 1864
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1872W.F. Maitland, Catalogue of Pictures at Stansted Hall, n.p. 1872
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1917O. Fischel, 'Die Zeichnungen der Umbrer', Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, XXXVIII, 1917, pp. 1-72
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1923R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols, The Hague 1923
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1977M.L. D'Ancona, The Garden of the Renaissance: Botanical Symbolism in Italian Painting, Florence 1977
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1984F.G. Sabatini, Giovanni di Pietro, detto Lo Spagna, Spoleto 1984
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1991F. Haskell, 'William Coningham and His Collection of Old Masters', The Burlington Magazine, CXXXIII/1063, 1991, pp. 676-81
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1995D. Lee, William Fuller Maitland 1813-1876, n.p. 1995?
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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