The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

1519
(German, 1484/85–1545)
Germany, 16th century
woodcut
Image: 25.2 x 9.7 cm (9 15/16 x 3 13/16 in.); Sheet: 25.2 x 9.7 cm (9 15/16 x 3 13/16 in.)
Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1966.6
Catalogue raisonné: Karlsruhe 2 ; Hollestein II.75.2
Location: not on view

Description

In Hans Baldung’s later rendition of Adam and Eve the reduction of setting—in which the Garden of Eden is reduced to a tree—brings the focus to the bodies of Adam and Eve and their physical interaction and desire. Baldung even eliminated the serpent, instead introducing a sinister element in the near-predatory Adam, cast in deep shadow as if emerging from the darkness. With such spare imagery overall, it is the audience, by looking, that is implicated in the first couple’s original sin and guilt.
  • ?–1966
    (C.G. Boerner, LLC, New York, NY), sold to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    January 3, 1966–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Golden Anniversary Acquisition,” 1966, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
  • Love Gardens / Forbidden Fruit. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 2-October 29, 2023).
    Lust, Love, and Loss in Renaissance Europe. The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, Chicago, IL (organizer) (April 5-June 12, 2021).
    Albrecht Dürer and His Influence. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-March 10, 1991).
    I and Thou. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 21-May 27, 1984).
    Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966).
  • {{cite web|title=Adam and Eve|url=false|author=Hans Baldung|year=1519|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.6