Adam and Eve in Paradise

1509

Lucas Cranach

(German, 1472–1553)

Culture

Germany

Medium

woodcut

Measurements

Image: 33.5 x 23 cm (13 3/16 x 9 1/16 in.); Sheet: 33.5 x 23 cm (13 3/16 x 9 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Ralph King 1925.115

Catalogue raisonné

Hollstein 1

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Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

The coats of arms hanging from the tree in this image are those of the artist's patron, Frederick, Elector of Saxony (1463–
1525).

Description

Lucas Cranach’s Eden shows the first couple just prior to tasting the forbidden fruit. Adam holds one fruit, and Eve plucks a second from the tree of knowledge. The composition is packed with stags, horses, sheep, and a lion, ram, and boar. Some of these are associated with human temperaments (personality types), but the many stags suggest more hunting ground than significant allegory. Cranach’s patron, Frederick, Elector of Saxony (1463–1525), whose coats of arms hang from the tree, was an avid hunter whose hunting grounds were perhaps a kind of paradise for him.