The Betrayal of Christ, predella panel
Bartolomeo di Tommaso (Italian, Umbrian, active by 1425, died 1453/54)
Tempera on wood; Overall 8 3/4 x 17 in. (22.2 x 43.2 cm); irregular painted surface 7 3/4 x 16 1/8 in. (19.7 x 41 cm)
Gwynne Andrews Fund, 1958 (58.87.1)
These two panels are from the predella of an unidentified altarpiece. They were painted by Bartolomeo di Tommaso, an artist of strikingly modern expressive power, who was the foremost painter in Umbria in the first half of the fifteenth century. The man shown naked in the Betrayal appears in the Gospel of Saint Mark (14:51–52) and traditionally represents the apostle John attempting to flee from the Roman soldiers.
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