{"id":405,"date":"2021-05-14T16:37:49","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T16:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/?page_id=405"},"modified":"2021-06-03T18:07:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T18:07:09","slug":"adam-and-eve-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/adam-and-eve-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam and Eve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Adam and Eve<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

ARTIST: Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 \u2013 1669)
DATE: Dated 1638 (impression<\/a> most likely produced later)
TECHNIQUE: Etching<\/a>
DIMENSIONS: Platemark<\/a>: 12 x 16.5 cm, Paper Size: 12.9 x 17.1 cm
STATE<\/a>: II\/II
SIGNATURE: \u201cRembrandt 1638\u201d
WATERMARK<\/a>: Faint, unidentified
CATALOGUE REFERENCE: New Hollstein 168 II\/II, Bartsch 28 II\/II
CREDIT LINE: Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund and the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund
PROVENANCE: Purchased from David Tunick Gallery
OBJECT NUMBER: 1978.021<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Adam and Eve, the first biblical man and woman, are traditionally represented in the youthful, idealized bodies of the classical style. In his version of the moment of temptation, Rembrandt purposefully rejects this convention in favor of his own brand of realism. He instead presents Adam and Eve as older, ordinary people with as many flaws as all the humans that followed them. A comparison between the female figure in Jacob Matham\u2019s Minerva and Mercury<\/a><\/em> and Rembrandt\u2019s Eve reveals differences not only in their bodily shapes, but also in the lines used to create their forms. Minerva\u2019s torso consists of sweeping, parallel engraved<\/a> strokes while Eve\u2019s rounded stomach is shadowed with short, densely layered lines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rembrandt was well aware of his contemporaries\u2019 artworks through his own collection of prints, and even draws direct connections between his works and theirs. The winged serpent that digs its claws into the tree at Eve\u2019s left is borrowed from the German Renaissance painter and printmaker Albrecht D\u00fcrer\u2019s (1471\u20131528) The Harrowing of Hell <\/a><\/em>woodcut. Rembrandt even alluded to the Italian Renaissance painter Raphael\u2019s (1483\u20131520) fresco of The Creation of Eve<\/a><\/em> in the Vatican Logge in his characters\u2019 poses. Despite his reuse of these acclaimed images, seventeenth-century critics were displeased with Rembrandt\u2019s distinctly unidealized nudes. The effect of his unusual decision, however, was to normalize the biblical characters, allowing audiences to more easily identify with their desire and their choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rembrandt increases the visual impact of the scene by lighting the scene from behind, illuminating the figures with the Garden of Eden\u2019s glow. This also places the protagonists under the serpent\u2019s dark shadow, contrasting the good of the garden with the evil of the serpent through the difference in their tones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by Kevin Santoro, edited by Simone Edgar Holmes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bibliography<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art Institute Chicago. \u201cAdam and Eve.\u201d Accessed June 25, 2020, https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/artworks\/70019\/adam-and-eve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ArtsMia. \u201cAdam and Eve, 1638.\u201d Accessed July 6, 2020, https:\/\/collections.artsmia.org\/art\/55308\/adam-and-eve-rembrandt-harmensz-van-rijn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith, David R. \u201cRaphael’s Creation, Rembrandt’s Fall.\u201d Zeitschrift F\u00fcr Kunstgeschichte <\/em>50, no. 4 (1987): 496-508. doi:10.2307\/1482420. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

White, Christopher, and Karel G. Boon. Rembrandt’s Etchings, an Illustrated Critical Catalogue<\/em>. Volume 1. Amsterdam: Van Gendt, 1970.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adam and Eve ARTIST: Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606 \u2013 1669)DATE: Dated 1638 (impression most likely produced later)TECHNIQUE: EtchingDIMENSIONS: Platemark: 12 x 16.5 cm, Paper Size: 12.9 x 17.1 cmSTATE: II\/IISIGNATURE: \u201cRembrandt 1638\u201dWATERMARK: Faint, unidentifiedCATALOGUE REFERENCE: New Hollstein 168 II\/II, Bartsch 28 II\/IICREDIT LINE: Purchase with funds provided by the Fine Arts Acquisition Fund and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-405","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":512,"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/405\/revisions\/512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/museum.middcreate.net\/projects\/early-modern-dutch-prints\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}