This drawing represents the central portion and main action of the painting--Christ's betrayal by Judas--of the Garden of Gethsemane. Dating is difficult, but it is likely that the sheet belongs to the artist Ercole de Roberti's lifetime or closely thereafter, when his works were popular. Often drawings such as this were made as aids in the artist's studio in order to reproduce a popular composition in later painted works. Blue paper was an often used support for drawings in northern Italy in the late 15th and 16th centuries.