The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 29, 2025

Arm of Eve

1507
(German, 1471–1528)
Germany, Nuremberg
point of brush and gray and black wash, brush and gray and black wash, heightened with white gouache
Sheet: 34.4 x 26.7 cm (13 9/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
Gift of Alan Kennedy 1965.470
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The blue paper that Dürer used to make this drawing was a specialty of Venetian paper makers in the 16th century, who achieved the color by infusing the paper pulp with dyed fibers.

Description

Arm of Eve is the only surviving preparatory drawing for Dürer’s life-size panels of Adam and Eve in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. It is also one of the few surviving drawings by the artist made on Venetian blue paper, a support he began to use for his chiaroscuro studies while visiting Venice in the winter of 1506–7. With extraordinary economy of means, using only black and gray ink and a limited amount of wash and gouache for shading and heightening, Dürer suggested the grace and balance of the complete human form in this composition of a disembodied arm and hand. Such a study of a hand in ideal proportions cannot help but suggest the hand of the artist, a self-referential nod to his own abilities.
  • ?-1818/23
    Joseph Grünling (1875-1845), Vienna (Lugt 1107).
    ?-1888
    Alfred Ritter von Franck (1808-1884), Vienna/Graz (Lugt 947)
    ca. 1884
    With Amsler & Ruthardt, Berlin
    ?-1888
    Ferdinand Meder, New York; his sale "with Mr. C. Klackner", New York, 1888
    ?-1899
    Edward Habich (1818-1901), Kassel; his sale, Gutekunst-Auction, Stuttgart, 27 April 1899, lot 236;
    1899-1926
    Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna (property of Archduke Friedrich of Austria) (Lugt 174)
    ca. 1926-ca. 1938
    Eugene Meyer (1875-1959), Washington, DC
    1938
    with Arthur H. Harlow & Co., New York
    1938
    with Walter Schatzki, New York;
    1938-1965
    Frits Lugt (1884-1970), Paris/The Hague
    1965
    with Richard H. Zinser, New York.
    1965-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Heller, Joseph. Das leben und die werke Albrecht Dürer's. Leipzig: F.A. Brockhaus, 1831. Mentioned: p. 125, no. 24 digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
    Ephrussi, Charles. Albert Dürer et ses dessins. Paris: A. Quantin, 1882. Mentioned: p. 144 archive.org
    Lippmann, Friedrich, Joseph Meder, Jos Schönbrunner, and Friedrich Winkler. Zeichnungen von Albrecht Dürer. Berlin: G. Grote, 1883-1929. Mentioned: pp. 19-20, no. 164
    Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Exhibition of Albert Dürer's Engravings, Etchings, and Dry-Points: And of Most of the Woodcuts Executed from His Designs : November 15, 1888 to January 15, 1889. Boston: Printed for the museum by A. Mudge & Son, 1888. Mentioned: p. 75, no. 278
    Schönbrunner, Jos, and Joseph Meder. Handzeichnungen alter Meister aus der Albertina und anderen Sammlungen. Wien: Gerlach & Schenk, 1896-1908. Reproduced: vol. 7, no. 793 archive.org
    Meder, Joseph. Die Handzeichnung: ihre Technik und Entwicklung. Wien: Kunstverlag Anton Schroll, 1923. Mentioned: p. 154 archive.org
    Flechsig, Eduard. Albrecht Dürer: sein Leben und seine Künstlerische Entwickelung. Berlin: G. Grote, 1928. Mentioned: p. 570, no. 519 digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
    Pfister, Kurt. Albrecht Dürer: Werk und Gestalt. Zürich: Amalthea-Verlag, 1928. Mentioned: p. 100, no. 135
    Winkler, Friedrich. Die Zeichnungen Albrecht Dürers. Berlin: Deutscher Verein für kunstwissenschaft, 1936. Mentioned: p. 112-113, no. 434
    Tietze, Hans, and E. Tietze-Conrat. Kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke Albrecht Dürers. Basel: Holbein-Verlag, 1937. Mentioned: pp. 38-39, 190, no. 348
    Panofsky, Erwin. Albrecht Dürer. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1945. Mentioned: p. 120, no. 1208
    Tietze, Hans. Dürer als Zeichner und Aquarellist. Wien: Schroll, 1951. Mentioned: p. 25
    Winkler, Friedrich. Albrecht Dürer, Leben und Werk. Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1957. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 199, n2
    Hasselt, Carlos van, "Old Master Drawings in the Lugt Collection," Apollo (Nov. 1964): pp. 417-419. Mentioned: p. 417
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Golden Anniversary Acquisition,” 1965, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 106 archive.org
    Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 30
    "La Chronique des Arts," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, No. 1173 (October 1966): pp. 3-ff. Reproduced: p. 7
    Lee, Sherman E.. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Mentioned: p. 133
    Young, Mahonri Sharp, "Great Guns at Detroit and Cleveland," Apollo (September 1966): pp. 237-241. Mentioned: pp. 239, 241
    Burton, Richard, "Fifty years of Cleveland," The Connoisseur vol. 163 no. 656 (Oct. 1966): pp. 128-135. Mentioned: p. 129
    Yamazawa, Syoichi, "News from Abroad," Mizue: a monthly review of the fine arts, No. 742 (Nov. 1966): pp. 92-98. Mentioned: pp. 92-93
    Art Quarterly, "Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October-December 1966," The Art Quarterly vol. XXX, no. 1 (1967): pp. 63-90. Mentioned: p. 71
    Benesch, Otto, and Eva Benesch. Master Drawings in the Albertina: European Drawings from the 15th to the 18th Century. Greenwich, Conn: New York Graphic Society Publishers, 1967. Mentioned: p. 23
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 106 archive.org
    Fricke, Berthold. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Hannover: Knorr & Hirth, 1970. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 42-43
    Talbot, Charles W. Dürer in America, His Graphic Work. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1971. Mentioned and reproduced: p. vii, p. 17-18, pp. 58-59, cat. no. xv
    Young, Mahonri Sharp, "The Loving Eye, the Cunning Hand," Apollo (July, 1971): pp. 40-45. Mentioned: pp. 42-43
    Werner, Alfred, "Albrecht Dürer, Master Draftsman," American Artist vol. 35 no. 350 (September 1971): pp. 24- pp. 24-29, 61-63
    Strauss, Walter L.. The Complete Drawings of Albrecht Dürer. New York: Abaris Books, 1974. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 996, no. 1507/1
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 124 archive.org
    Johnson, Mark M. Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980. Mentioned: p. 35-36; reproduced: p. 36, fig. 32
    Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1986. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 296, no. 122
    Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. Munich: Prestel-Verlag, 1986. Reproduced and mentioned: p. 296, no. 122
    Dunbar, Burton L., and Edward J. Olszewski. Drawings in Midwestern Collections: A Corpus. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1996. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 141-142, no. 86,
    DeGrazia, Diane and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000. Mentioned: p. 8, p. 12, pp.148-49; p.292, cat.no. 59; Reproduced: p. 149
    Heijbroek, J. F. Frits Lugt, 1884-1970: leven voor de kunst : biografie. Bussum: Thoth, 2010. Mentioned: p. 409
    Franklin, David, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced and mentioned: pp. 160-161
    Heijbroek, J. F. Frits Lugt, 1884-1970 : Living for Art : A Biography. Bussum, Paris: Thoth Publishers; Fondation Custodia, 2012. pp. 400-402; illus. p. 401.
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 156
  • Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
    Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 8-June 22, 1986); Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 90402 Nürnberg, Germany (July 24-September 28, 1986).
    Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983).
    Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980).
    Dürer in America: His Graphic Work. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (April 25-June 6, 1971).
    Durer in America: His Graphic Work. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (April 24-July 7, 1971).
    Exhibition of Albrecht Dürer’s Engravings, Etchings… with Eight Original Drawings from the Collections Von Franck. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 1888.
    Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968).
    Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968).
    Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).
  • {{cite web|title=Arm of Eve|url=false|author=Albrecht Dürer|year=1507|access-date=29 April 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1965.470