Artwork Page for The Creation

Details / Information for The Creation

Series Title: Dance of Death

The Creation

c. 1526

Hans Holbein the Younger

(German, active England and Switzerland, 1497/98–1543)
Culture
Germany
Medium
woodcut
Measurements
Sheet: 7.1 x 4.8 cm (2 13/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1929.144
Catalogue raisonné
Passavant vol.3.365.1
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death series, a collection of 41 prints, begins with this scene of the sixth day of Creation, when, according to Genesis, humankind was made. Here, a menagerie of animals crowd around in awe as God stoops to pull Eve from Adam’s side. From above, the moon, sun, and winds witness the birth. Eve is figured in this print as a fully formed, adult woman, though, much like the tree limbs behind her, she branches off from her partner, suggesting her origin from Adam’s rib. The pair is unaware of their nakedness, a sign of humanity’s then sinless state.
A vertically oriented print in black ink depicts a bearded man wearing a crown and robes lifting a nude person from under the arms, who extends from the side of a reclining nude person. They are surrounded by a forest and animals, running water at the bottom, and above sun, moon, and two flanking faces blowing radiating lines from a cloudy sky. Above, the words: "Die schöpffung aller ding."

The Creation

c. 1526

Hans Holbein the Younger

(German, active England and Switzerland, 1497/98–1543)
Germany

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