Adam and Eve (The Fall of Man), 1504

Albrecht Durer, German, 1471 - 1528

Adam and Eve (The Fall of Man)

Intaglio

1504

Engraving

9 3/4 x 7 9/16 in. (24.8 x 19.2 cm)

2006.057.001

In this engraving Durer introduced the values of the Italian Renaissance to northern Europe. The print was much admired in his time and was to be a model for other artists for generations. In 1494-95 as a precocious young artist Durer traveled from his native Nuremberg to Italy, where he encountered the intellectual and artistic currents of the Renaissance, including the interest in newly discovered works of ancient sculpture. Thus, in this engraving, when he portrayed the first human beings created, he chose to model them with the perfection of the classical nude. Adam and Eve are portrayed with the proportions and contrapposto stance of two renowned antique statues, the Apollo Belvedere and a type of the Capitoline Venus.

The idealized human figures, based on works of art, stand in contrast to the careful observation of nature found in his depiction of the animals. Despite their naturalism the animals also embody symbolic meaning. Four of the animals surrounding Eve were associated with the four humors or temperaments: the cat is choleric, the rabbit sanguine, the ox phlegmatic, the elk melancholic. According to medieval tradition the Fall of Man upset the original equilibrium of the humors and afflicted the human race with imbalanced temperaments.

Gift of Margaret and Charlie Shufeldt

Renaissance to Contemporary: Recent Acquisitions in Works on Paper, Michael C. Carlos Museum, February 10 - May 27, 2007|
God Spoke the Earth: Stories of Genesis in Prints and Drawings, Michael C. Carlos Museum, September 13 - December 7, 2014

© Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University. Photo by Michael McKelvey.

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