depcitions of agony in the garden

by Madison McCaslin

Those who are familiar with the stories of Christ will know of the Garden of Gethsemane, in which Jesus went to pray following the Last Supper. Knowing he had been betrayed by his disciple, Judas, and was soon to be crucified, he weeps tears of blood as his body is caught in a state of psychomachia. His divinity knows no fear, as he will be seated at the right hand of God, though his human self is in anguish at the betrayal of Judas and the fear of what will come next. This scene is known as the Agony in the Garden. 
My intention with this collage was to explore the ways in which different artists from different times have depicted this moment. What does agony look like for them? How do they imagine the garden and surrounding landscape? How does the angel appear? How is Jesus depicted? I included bits and pieces of five different paintings, all entitled Agony in the Garden. I centered my four chosen figures – Jesus and three angels – around a tree from Lo Spagna’s 1504 painting in order to ground the scene. Jesus is shown on his knees, looking earnestly at the angel before him, as interpreted by El Greco with his 1600-07 painting. The angel immediately in front of him is from Sandro Botticelli’s 1500-04 painting, in which he has painted the angel as a hyper feminine being in a flowing white garment, complete with birdlike wings. This is in stark contrast to Raffaello Sanzio’s 1504 angel, shown in the top right. This figure appears to be more like a gentle maiden, with her lack of wings and simple pink dress. Benvenuto di Giovanni's 1491 angel to the bottom right is the most unique of the three, given the gender is not immediately obvious, yet the outfit is the most complex and luxurious. The wings are also the most stereotypical depiction of angel wings, given their shape and color. 
I felt that the beautiful landscape of this panel was the perfect place to insert such an important biblical scene into the painting, as it is closely related to the other religious images featured there. References to Adam and Eve, Heaven and Hell, and sins are all present in the painting, but what about the transition periods? Before Christ was crucified, he was shedding tears of blood in the garden, caught in limbo between his past life and imminent death. This collage provides a glimpse into that moment, while also taking into consideration how each person sees and interprets religious scenes differently.