The Agony in the Garden

between 1437 and 1444

Sassetta Italian, ca. 1400-1450

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

Title The Agony in the Garden

Artwork Date between 1437 and 1444

Artist Sassetta

Life Dates ca. 1400-1450

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Italian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. ----------

Medium Tempera, silver and gold leaf on poplar panel

Dimensions Image: 17 1/8 × 23 1/4 inches (43.5 × 59 cm) Unframed (irreg.): 19 1/4 × 24 15/16 × 1 1/4 inches (48.9 × 63.4 × 3.1 cm) Framed: 27 7/16 × 32 3/8 inches (69.7 × 82.2 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 53.270

Markings

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Provenance

possibly Florentine collection;
3rd Earl of Ashburnham (Ashburnham Place, Sussex, England);
Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham [d. 1878] (Ashburnham Place, Sussex, England);
1953, by inheritance to Lady Catherine Ashburnham;
June 24, 1953, sold by (Sotheby's, London, England) "The Ashburnham Collections, Part I: Catalogue of Paintings and Drawings of the Continental School" lot 13;
(purchased by Agnew's on behalf of DIA).
1953, purchased by Agnew's on behalf of the Detroit Institute of Arts;
1953-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Pope-Hennessy, J. "A Passion Predella by Sassetta." Burlington Magazine 73, no. 425 (August 1938) pp. 48-51, pl. 1.

Pope-Hennessy, J. Sassetta. London, 1939, pp. 114-117, 136-37 (note 44), pl. XXIII.

Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941, see no. 36 (ill.).

Carli, E. Sassetta e il Maestro dell'Osservanza. Milan, 1957, p. 125.

Pope-Hennessy, J. "Sassetta and Giovanni di Paolo." Art News Annual (November 1957): pp. 124-154, p. 125.

Laclotte, M. L'information d'histoire de l'art 5 (1960): pp. 52ff.

Paintings in the Detroit Institute of Arts: A Checklist of the Paintings Acquired Before June 1965. Detroit, 1965, p. 97.

Richardson, E.P., ed. Treasures from the Detroit Institute of Arts, 3rd ed. Detroit, 1966, p. 68 (ill.).

Vingt ans d'acquisitions au Musée du Louve 1947-1967. Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. Paris, 1967, pp. 133-134.

Berenson, B. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and their Works with an Index of Places. Central Italian and North Italian Schools, vol. 1. London, 1968, p. 385. [ca. 1435-1436].

Cummings, F. and C. Elam, eds. Detroit Institute of Arts Illustrated Handbook. Detroit, 1971, p. 76 (ill.).

Fredericksen, B. and F. Zeri. Census of Pre-19th Century Italian Paintings in North American Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972, p. 183.

European Paintings Before 1500. Exh. cat., Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, 1974, p. 124.

Retables italiens du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Exh. cat., Musée du Louvre. Paris, 1978, p. 33.

Sutton, D. "Robert Langton Douglas, Part III." Apollo 110 (June 1979): pp. 443-475 [165-193], p. 469.

Gothic to Renaissance. European Painting 1300 - 1600. London, 1988, pp. 44-52, 46; (ill.).

Banker, James R. The Program for the Sassetta Altarpiece in the Church of S. Francesco in Borgo S. Sepolcro. Florence, 1991, pp. 31 ff (figs. 16-18).

Ekserdjian, D. Correggio. New Haven, 1997, pp. 159-160 (fig. 176).

Teuffel, C.G. von. "Niccolo di Segna, Sassetta, Piero della Francesca and Perugino: Cult and Continuity at Sansepolcro." Städel Jahrbuch 17 (1999): pp. 163-208, p. 176 (fig. 23).

Gordon, Dillian. The Fifteenth Century Italian Paintings, vol. I. Exh. cat., National Gallery Company. London, 2003, pp. 350, 352-353.

Israëls, M., ed. Sassetta: the Borgo San Sepolcro Altarpiece, 2 vols., Villa I Tatti series no. 25. Florence & Leiden, 2009, vol. 1, pp. 337-341; vol. 2, pp. 412-417.

De Marchi, Andrea. "Il polittico di Sassetta per San Francesco a Sansepolcro perlustrato." Prospettiva 139-140 (July-October 2010): pp. 115-130.

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Sassetta, The Agony in the Garden, between 1437 and 1444, tempera, silver and gold leaf on poplar panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Ralph Harman Booth Bequest Fund, 53.270.