Art History 201, Spring 2019

An Iconographic Analysis of Giovanni Bellini’s Agony in the Garden

The Agony in the Garden, an early Renaissance tempera panel painting 80.4 by

127 cm wide, now housed the National Gallery in London, England, was composed by

the Italian master Giovanni Bellini from roughly 1458 to 1460. Here, Bellini attempts

to capture in a visual medium the events preceding the betrayal, arrest, and

subsequent crucifixion of Jesus Christ by the Romans. Originally espoused within the

canonical Gospels in the New English Standard Bible, this painting bears witness to the

agony within the Garden of Gethsemane, a pivotal moment in the Christian tradition,

where Jesus is recorded to have fervently prayed to God alongside three of his

disciples the night before his betrayal by Judas Iscariot. This painting, an exemplar of

the artistic and stylistic conventions of the Venetian Renaissance, is notable in its

development and treatment of depth, shadow, and color. In fact, “Bellini’s coloristic

oil and tempera painting style became the foundation of Venetian painting.” 1

Moreover, paintings originating from this era are distinguished by their portrayal of

detailed backgrounds and landscapes, where, influenced by a heightened

understanding of atmospheric perspectives and tonal arrangements, revolutionized

the depiction of three-dimensional space. As such, this paper will explore the

iconography of Agony in the Garden, specifically focusing attention on the myriad

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. 15th ed. Vol. 2. Boston, 1

MA: Cengage Learning, 2015. 530.

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symbolic elements embedded within Bellini’s interpretation of the final repentance

and betrayal in the final hours of Christ.

At first glance, our eyes immediately focus on the center of the painting; we

see a figure historically identified as Jesus Christ kneeling on a raised berm of earth,

resting his elbows on a boulder – hands tightly pressed together in prayer. Jesus’s

face, although partially obscured to us, appears to be earnestly pleading to God,

knowing that he will soon die for the sins of humanity. In this representation, Jesus is

also portrayed as being barefoot, as he lacks any type of discernable footwear in the

painting. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, to go barefoot was a sign of great distress,

or a signal of a great calamity having fallen on a person. Following the events of the 2

Bible, we can surmise the reasoning behind Bellini’s interpretation, as Christ is aware

of his impending betrayal. During the Last Supper, he predicted and proclaimed to his

apostles that “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me . . . the Son of Man will go

just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man It

would be better for him if he had not been born.” 3

The pose in which Jesus takes to pray on the rock mirrors a more traditional

and formal worship process that one may perform in a church. The writings of Pope

Emeritus Benedict XVI attest to the significance of Jesus’s pose:

Easton, Matthew George. "Entry for Barefoot." Online Reference Compendium: Easton's Bible 2

Dictionary. 2017. Accessed February 5, 2019. https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/barefoot/. This source is an online scan of the third edition of the Easton's Illustrated Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897 by Thomas Nelson.

Matthew. 26:23-24. (New English Standard Bible).3

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“The spiritual and bodily meanings of proskynein [i.e., adoration on one’s knees] are really inseparable. The bodily gesture itself is the bearer of spiritual meaning, which is precisely that of worship. Without the worship, the bodily gesture would be meaningless. When someone tries to take worship back into the purely spiritual realm and refuses to give it embodied form, the act of worship evaporates.” 4

Additionally, the rock which Jesus prays on is meant to represent an altar, a religious

furnishing which “is the center of the liturgical and sacramental ritual of the church,

and one which focuses veneration to the heavens.” In effect, Bellini attempts to 5

capture the reverence and penitence of Jesus in an outdoor setting, far from the

confines of a church’s interior, suggesting the omnipresence of God.

Adjacent to Jesus, three sleeping individuals are each lying haphazardly on the

sandy ground, prostrated by exhaustion. These men are clad in varying

multichromatic garb, which appears to be stained by the dirt and dust surrounding

their bodies. Upon further analysis, we can identify these men as the apostles Peter,

James, and John, both in personage and in iconographic detail. Closest to Jesus from

the left is Peter. Since the 4th century, Peter has “been portrayed with a short, square

beard . . . flanking the central figure [Jesus] from the left, because of his leadership

of the apostles.” Directly next to Peter – the man in the blue garb – is James the 6

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. “The Power of the Knee in Catholic Liturgy.” The Spirit of the Liturgy 4

(2000): 190-194. https://adoremus.org/2016/11/14/power-knee-catholic-liturgy/

Williamson, Beth. "Altarpieces, Liturgy, and Devotion." Speculum, no. 2 (2004): 341-406. http://5

www.jstor.org/stable/20462892.

Stracke, Richard, Clare Stracke, and Don Ho. "Saint Peter: The Iconography." Christian Iconography. 6

January 10, 2017. Accessed February 5, 2019. http://www.christianiconography.info/peter.html.

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Greater, the eldest son of Zebedee and the brother of John the Evangelist. James is

often depicted as a pilgrim, with sandals and a middle-aged appearance. Lastly, to 7

the left of James is John the Evangelist, the brother of James the Greater, and the

youngest son of Zebedee. In Western artistic representations, John is represented as

“a young person with either a short beard or none at all . . . the tradition [is] partly

to the fact that he was an adolescent at the time of the Last Supper.” The heads of 8

all three apostles are bathed in a faint, circular glow, representative of a halo,

thereby indicating their status as holy figures. In Renaissance painting, the halo is “A

decorative device used in Christian times to designate the glory or effulgence of

phenomenal heavenly light. It is used to adorn representations of deity, and to denote

an attribute of sanctity in distinguishing a holy personage.” 9

A gnarled fence of interwoven olive branches surrounds the four individuals,

suggesting their presence within the Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount

of Olives. Here, Jesus instructed his disciples to wait with him while he spoke to God:

“Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his

disciples, ‘Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the

two sons of Zebedee, he began to be very sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to

them, ‘My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here and watch with me.’ And

Stracke, Richard, Clare Stracke, and Don Ho. "St. James the Greater: The Iconography." Christian 7

Iconography. January 10, 2017. Accessed February 5, 2019. http://www.christianiconography.info/jamesGreater.html

Stracke, Richard, Clare Stracke, and Don Ho. "St. John the Evangelist: The Iconography." Christian 8

Iconography. March 30, 2018. Accessed February 5, 2019. http://www.christianiconography.info/john.html.

Egan, Mary Antonine, C.S.J. "Halo Painting of the Italian Renaissance." Boston University Libraries. 9

July 20, 1963. Accessed January 29, 2019. https://hdl.handle.net/2144/3726.

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going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed.” It is important to note the 10

slight spatial disconnect between Jesus and his sleeping disciples. They are not

together in the sense that Jesus is kneeling on an elevated platform, while the three

apostles are lying exhaustedly on a downward slope, facing directly away from his

body. Within the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is noted to have “withdrawn from them

[James, John, and Peter] from about a stone’s throw away.” These critical details 11

attest to the biblical verisimilitude of Bellini’s work.

In the dawning sky, a winged, ethereal figure appears on the top-right corner of

the painting, sent by God as a response to the impassioned prayers of Jesus. The

figure, painted in a fashion as to blend in with the clouds, takes on the appearance of

an angel, one which is particularly youthful and translucent in appearance. Its body

appears to be radiating a holy light, as its personage is brighter than the surrounding

clouds. According to art historian Therese Martin, “The angel is a being unseen yet so

easily describable; it has a certain ethereal beauty, flowing robes, and above all,

majestic wings . . . Brilliance is this the key identifying characteristic of angels.” 12

Additionally, the angel bears a golden chalice and paten in its outstretched hands.

These ceremonial artifacts, used to bear the blood and body of Christ respectively,

are commonly utilized in the rites of the Eucharist today. Citing the Gospel of Luke, 13

Matthew. 26:36-39. (New English Standard Bible).10

Luke. 22:41. (New English Standard Bible). 11

Martin, Therese. "The Development of Winged Angels in Early Christian Art." Espacio, Tiempo Y 12

Forma, Historia Del Arte, 7th ser., 14 (2001): 11-30. 2015. Accessed February 11, 2019. http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/17726/1/eserv.pdf.

Ibid. “The Agony in the Garden.”13

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the angel was sent down by God to aid him in his prayer: “And there appeared an

angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him . . . he prayed more earnestly.” 14

Indeed, the manifestation of an angel in this case is fitting. As stated by theologian

Gail Ashton, the angel plays the role of “not simply a messenger, but a bridge

between humans and God, between men and women, one that affirms the mutuality

of a loving relationship.” Bellini, like many of his contemporaries, chose to include 15

the angel in their art for this exact purpose, as a vital conduit of communication

between the mortal and the divine.

The backgrounds present within Agony in the Garden also convey a duality of

emotions. The first motes of light shed by the dawning sky are met with a desolate

wasteland; when compared and contrasted, the two diverging scenes represent a

duality of hope and despair. From the imagery alone, it is evident that the right side

of the painting is brighter, calmer and more placid, with the inclusion of the

comforting angel, the shimmering light of the sun, and the image of a penitent Jesus.

Within Christian art, images of light and the sun represent the virtues of hope and

salvation. Moreover, in “early Christian times, Christ was associated with the pagan

sun god; he is celebrated as the ‘light of the world,’ sent to dispel the darkness and

to rise again after his death.” This scene is diametrically opposed to the dark 16

Luke. 22:42-43. (New English Standard Bible). 14

Ashton, Gail. "Bridging the Difference: Reconceptualizing The Angel in Medieval 15

Historiography." Literature and Theology 16, no. 3 (2002): 235-47. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23925965.

"Festival of Light: A Trail Exploring the Symbolism of Light in Different Traditions." The National 16

Gallery. 2016. Accessed February 11, 2019. https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/media/15296/trail_festival-of-light.pdf.

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turbulence shown in the left half of the image, which depicts a setting replete with

withered trees, serpentine roads, and jagged rocks. This landscape represents a state

of total disharmony, a noted break from the more verdant setting which characterizes

the distant background of the work. This winding, precipitous route, which leads to

the city of Jerusalem, symbolizes the treacherous, yet uncertain future for Jesus and

his followers. Accordingly, this could represent the path of the Via Dolorosa, the final

path which Jesus traversed on his way to Golgotha, the hill where he was crucified. 17

According to maps of the area, as well as biblical record, the Via Dolorosa is a winding

path to Jerusalem which today house nine of the fourteen Stations of the Cross,

physical markers which record the path Jesus walked to his crucifixion. 18

Lastly, and perhaps most sinister, the middle ground of this painting reveals a

contingent of armored Roman troops spearheaded by Judas Iscariot, who plotted with

the chief priests of the Sanhedrin to reveal Jesus’s presence for thirty pieces of

silver. Judas, being one of the original disciples of Jesus is identified not by his halo, 19

but rather, his lack of one. Bellini does not attribute a halo onto his personage. Due to

his betrayal of Jesus, many accounts “identify him by making him the only one

without a halo at all.” Moreover, the soldiers, brandishing fearsome weapons, 20

"The Via Dolorosa." Terra Sancta Museum. February 2017. Accessed January 30, 2019. https://17

www.terrasanctamuseum.org/en/via-dolorosa/.

Thurston, Herbert. The Stations of the Cross: An Account of Their History and Devotional Purpose. 18

London, England: Burns and Oates, 1914. March 30, 2007. Accessed February 5, 2019. https://archive.org/details/stationsofcrossa00thuruoft.

Matthew. 25:15. (New English Standard Bible). 19

Stracke, Richard, Clare Stracke, and Don Ho. "Judas Iscariot: The Iconography." Christian 20

Iconography. March 30, 2018. Accessed February 5, 2019. http://www.christianiconography.info/judas.html.

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eventually separate Jesus from his three remaining apostles and present him to

Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who presided over his trial. The betrayal of Judas is

one of the most infamous, yet concrete tales in Christianity and Bellini’s portrayal of

this event strongly adheres to the established biblical tradition.

In retrospect, Giovanni Bellini’s Agony in the Garden is a highly detailed

exemplar of Early Renaissance artistry. This painting, abounding with clear religious

iconography, expertly captures the final hours of Jesus Christ’s life on Earth. Keeping

within strict textual adherence to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, Bellini has

effectively expressed his interpretation in a stunning piece of art. With further

analysis, art historians and theologists could gain a deeper, more complete

understanding of the impacts of religion in shaping art, as well as measure the overall

religiosity of the Renaissance period.

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Giovanni Bellini, Agony in the Garden, c. 1458 to 1460.