Eve, the Serpent and Death
Encyclopedia
Eve, the Serpent and Death (or Eve, the Serpent, and Adam as Death) is a painting by the German Renaissance
artist Hans Baldung
, housed in the National Gallery of Canada
, Ottawa
. The date of the picture is debated, with proposals ranging from the early 1510s to between 1525 and 1530. Its four main elements are the Biblical Eve
, a male figure personifying Death
and generally likened to Adam, a serpent
, and a tree trunk.
before being auctioned in 1875 at Christie's
as a work of Lucas Cranach the Elder
, though in fact the work offers a great contrast to Cranach's many Adam and Eve's, from which only the pose of Eve is borrowed. Almost a century later, it was determined to be a Baldung work by the Scottish branch of Sotheby's
, where it was auctioned in 1969.
The buyer sold it to the National Gallery of Canada of Ottawa in 1972, where it has since been cleaned and restored.
s and paintings, which he signifies by the apple and the bite of the serpent; his iconography
is often as original and arresting as in this work. In this panel, the bodies are grand in scale and fill essentially the entire space, and pale foreground colors are used against a dark background. The main elements are intertwined; the serpent is coiled around the tree trunk and also around Death, who he holds to the tree. Death's right arm extends upward to grasp the apple. The serpent, which has red eyes and a weasel
-like head, closes its jaws around the wrist of Death's left arm, which is at the same time grasping the left arm of Eve. Eve's left hand holds part of the serpent's tail, while her right hand holds an apple behind her back. Among Baldung's treatments of the Fall, the new element in Eve, the Serpent and Death is the active role of the snake; Adam's decrepit condition, halfway between nude and skeleton, suggests the work of poison, as if from the serpent, and the snake's grip on Adam recalls the biting of the apple in the Fall. The apple that each of the figures holds is the symbolic origin of the present scene, in which "everything is dependent on and implicated in everything else".
In the background is a dense forest while two more tree trunks, slim, angled, and parallel, occupy the middle ground. A marguerite, probably an oxeye daisy
(Hieatt), sits at the roots of the main tree trunk, in front of Death's right heel.
German Renaissance
The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which originated from the Italian Renaissance in Italy...
artist Hans Baldung
Hans Baldung
Hans Baldung, known as Hans Baldung Grien/Grün was a German Renaissance artist in painting and printmaking in woodcut. He was considered the most gifted student of Albrecht Dürer.-Life:...
, housed in the National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
, Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
. The date of the picture is debated, with proposals ranging from the early 1510s to between 1525 and 1530. Its four main elements are the Biblical Eve
Eve (Bible)
Eve was, according to the creation of Abrahamic religions, the first woman created by God...
, a male figure personifying Death
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
and generally likened to Adam, a serpent
Serpent (Bible)
Serpent is the term used to translate a variety of words in the Hebrew bible, the most common being , , the generic word for "snake"....
, and a tree trunk.
History
The painting was in the collection of British politician William AngersteinWilliam Angerstein
William Angerstein was a British Liberal Party politician.At the 1859 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Greenwich, and held his seat in the House of Commons until 1865....
before being auctioned in 1875 at Christie's
Christie's
Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...
as a work of Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Elder , was a German Renaissance painter and printmaker in woodcut and engraving...
, though in fact the work offers a great contrast to Cranach's many Adam and Eve's, from which only the pose of Eve is borrowed. Almost a century later, it was determined to be a Baldung work by the Scottish branch of Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
, where it was auctioned in 1969.
The buyer sold it to the National Gallery of Canada of Ottawa in 1972, where it has since been cleaned and restored.
Description
Baldung treated the Fall in a number of woodcutWoodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
s and paintings, which he signifies by the apple and the bite of the serpent; his iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
is often as original and arresting as in this work. In this panel, the bodies are grand in scale and fill essentially the entire space, and pale foreground colors are used against a dark background. The main elements are intertwined; the serpent is coiled around the tree trunk and also around Death, who he holds to the tree. Death's right arm extends upward to grasp the apple. The serpent, which has red eyes and a weasel
Weasel
Weasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
-like head, closes its jaws around the wrist of Death's left arm, which is at the same time grasping the left arm of Eve. Eve's left hand holds part of the serpent's tail, while her right hand holds an apple behind her back. Among Baldung's treatments of the Fall, the new element in Eve, the Serpent and Death is the active role of the snake; Adam's decrepit condition, halfway between nude and skeleton, suggests the work of poison, as if from the serpent, and the snake's grip on Adam recalls the biting of the apple in the Fall. The apple that each of the figures holds is the symbolic origin of the present scene, in which "everything is dependent on and implicated in everything else".
In the background is a dense forest while two more tree trunks, slim, angled, and parallel, occupy the middle ground. A marguerite, probably an oxeye daisy
Oxeye daisy
Leucanthemum vulgare, the oxeye daisy, , is a widespread flowering plant native to Europe and the temperate regions of Asia...
(Hieatt), sits at the roots of the main tree trunk, in front of Death's right heel.
Sources
- Koerner, Joseph LeoJoseph KoernerJoseph Leo Koerner is an American art historian. The Thomas Professor of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard, he is best known for his work on German art...
(1993). The Moment of Self-portraiture in German Renaissance Art. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226449998.