The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

Vertically oriented print in black ink of a bearded man wearing a crown and robes lifting a nude woman from under the arms, where she extends from the waist from the side of a reclining nude man. 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
woodcut
Sheet: 7.1 x 4.8 cm (2 13/16 x 1 7/8 in.)
Dudley P. Allen Fund 1929.144
Catalogue raisonné: Passavant vol.3.365.1
Location: Not on view

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.
  • "Woodcuts: Dance of Death Series by Hans Holbein the Younger." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art16, no. 8 (October 1929): 141-151 Mentioned: p. 141 www.jstor.org
  • Creation, Birth, and Rebirth. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17, 2024-July 16, 2025).
    Exhibition of Prints by the Little Masters: Prints form the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 23-April 24, 1938).
  • {{cite web|title=The Creation|url=false|author=Hans Holbein the Younger|year=c. 1526|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1929.144