Agony in the Garden

The Agony in the Garden of 1523 is part of the Passion cycle at the Certosa del Galluzzo, one of Pontormo's most significant projects. The night scene of Christ's anguished prayer in Gethsemane was a subject perfectly suited to Pontormo's emotionally intense approach. The influence of Dürer's prints, which Pontormo studied closely during his stay at the Carthusian monastery, is especially apparent in this work. trained by Leonardo and Andrea del Sarto, developed radically original Mannerist idiom in Florence.

The nocturnal setting allowed Pontormo to experiment with dramatic lighting, creating sharp contrasts between the illuminated figure of Christ and the surrounding darkness. Angular, compressed figure compositions derived from Northern prints are transformed by Pontormo's distinctively Florentine color sense.