Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

Painting on beech wood (Fagus sylvatica)

Medium

Painting on beech wood (Fagus sylvatica)

[Gemäldegalerie, revised 2010]
[Klein, Report 1997]

Adam stands close to Eve and has put his left arm around her shoulder, while she offers him an apple. They stand beneath the tree of knowledge and a snake winds itself around the branches laiden with apples above their heads. A stag stands to their left facing the viewer

Adam stands close to Eve and has put his left arm around her shoulder, while she offers him an apple. They stand beneath the tree of knowledge and a snake winds itself around the branches laiden with apples above their heads. A stag stands to their left facing the viewer and behind him a deer with her head bowed. To the right between Eve and the tree trunk there is a lion. Dense trees create a backdrop for the scene.

[Gemäldegalerie Berlin, Unsinn 2010]

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Gemäldegalerie, revised 2010]

Dating
1531

Dating

1531

[dated]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 51 x 35.4 x 0.6 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 51 x 35.4 x 0.6 cm

  • Dimensions including frame: 67 x 51.9 cm

  • [Gemäldegalerie, revised 2010]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia bottom right on the tree: winged serpent with elevated wings and dated '1531'; in white paint

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia bottom right on the tree: winged serpent with elevated wings and dated '1531'; in white paint

Labels

Reverse of the panel: - top centre:
label: 'Kiste 5'
- centre, right:
wax seal: 'Koenigliche Museen Berlin'
- …

Labels

later inscription, stamps, seals, labels:

  • Reverse of the panel: - top centre:

  • label: 'Kiste 5'

  • - centre, right:

  • wax seal: 'Koenigliche Museen Berlin'

  • - directly beneath:

  • 'I.625'

  • - just below the centre:

  • seal

  • - beneath to the left:

  • in pencil: '220'

  • - bottom left:

  • label: 'Staatliche Museen Berlin - Gemäldegalerie/ Katalog-Nr. 566/ Lukas Cranach d. Ä./ Adam und Eva im Paradiese.'

  • - beneath to the left:

  • label: 'F 1621/36'

  • - bottom right corner:

  • label: 'Kranach, Lukas/ Adam u. Eva/ H.51:35 N169'

  • [Gemäldegalerie, revised 2010]

Owner
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
Repository
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
Location
Berlin
CDA ID
DE_smbGG_566
FR (1978) Nr.
FR198C
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_smbGG_566/

Provenance

- acquired by Waagen before 1830 or 1826
- 1884 lent to the Nassauischen Kunstverein in Wiesbaden
- returned to Berlin before 1936

[Gemäldegalerie, revised 2010]

Exhibitions

Berlin 1937, 34, No. 87
Berlin 1973, 21, No. 9
Frankfurt 2008, 364, No. 118

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. Coburg 2018 100 under no. 17
AuthorKlaus Weschenfelder
TitleCranach in Coburg. Gemälde von Lucas Cranach d.Ä., Lucas Cranach d.J., der Werkstatt und des Umkreises in den Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg
Place of PublicationRegensburg
Year of Publication2018
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Frankfurt 2007 364-365 118 p. 365
EditorBodo Brinkmann
TitleCranach der Ältere, [Frankfurt, Städel Museum, 23.11.2007 - 17.02.2008]
Place of PublicationOstfildern
Year of Publication2007
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. London 2007 67 Fig. 28
EditorCaroline Campbell
TitleTemptation in Eden. Lucas Cranach's Adam and Eve , [London, Courtauld Institute Gallery]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication2007
Show Literature
Foister 2007 47-49
AuthorSusan Foister
TitleBefore the Fall. Adam and Eve and some Mythological Paintings by Cranach
Publicationin Caroline Campbell, ed., Temptation in Eden. Lucas Cranach's Adam and Eve, Exhib. Cat. London
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication2007
Pages46-61
Show Literature
Heydenreich 2007 A 398
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich
TitleLucas Cranach the Elder
Place of PublicationAmsterdam
Year of Publication2007
Link https://lucascranach.org/application/files/6116/2097/3099/Heydenreich_2007_Lucas_Cranach_the_Elder.pdf
Show Literature
Kolb 2005 A 142, 170 Fn. 139
AuthorKarin Kolb
TitleCranach - Die Gemälde in Dresden und ihre Geschichte
Publicationin Harald Marx, Ingrid Mössinger, Karin Kolb, eds., Cranach. Gemälde aus Dresden, Exhib. Cat. Chemnitz
Place of PublicationCologne
Year of Publication2005
Pages112-173
Show Literature
Klein 1994 A 196 Tab. 4
AuthorPeter Klein
TitleLucas Cranach und seine Werkstatt. Holzarten und dendrochronologische Analyse
Publicationin Claus Grimm, Johannes Erichsen, Evamaria Brockhoff, eds.,Lucas Cranach. Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken, Exhib. Cat. Kronach 1994
SeriesVeröffentlichungen zur bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur
Volume26
Place of PublicationAugsburg, Coburg
Year of Publication1994
Pages194-200
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 109 No. 198C
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Cat. Berlin 1975 A 116
EditorStaatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie
TitleKatalog der ausgestellten Gemälde des 13. - 18. Jahrhunderts
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1975
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1973 21 No. 9
AuthorWilhelm H. Köhler, Frank Steigerwald
TitleLucas Cranach. Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1973
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Berlin 1937 34 087 Pl. 69
EditorStaatliche Museen, Berlin
TitleLucas Cranach d. Ä. und Lucas Cranach d. J. Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Graphik
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1937
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 166C
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1932
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932
Show Literature
Friedländer 1905 65
AuthorMax J. Friedländer
TitleDie Tafelmalerei des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts
Publicationin Oscar Döring, Georg Voss, eds., Meisterwerke der Kunst aus Sachsen und Thüringen
Place of PublicationMagdeburg
Year of Publication1905
Pages3-18
Show Literature
Schuchardt 1851 C 14-15 6
AuthorChristian Schuchardt
TitleLucas Cranach des Aeltern Leben und Werke. Zweiter Theil
Place of PublicationLeipzig
Year of Publication1851
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/schuchardt1851bd2
Show Literature
Cat. Berlin 1830 143 No. 58
AuthorGustav Friedrich Waagen
EditorKönigliches Museum, Berlin
TitleVerzeichniß der Gemälde-Sammlung des Königlichen Museums zu Berlin
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1830
Show Literature
  • Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, 1531

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License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Documents

Technical studies

01. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- dry drawing material, dark chalk or fine pointed brush in combination with a broader brush and diluted medium?

Type/Ductus:

- freehand underdrawing?

- delicate, fine lines; possibly in combination with broader lines in the background

Function:

- binding for the final painted version; lines delineate contours; no representation of volume

Deviations:

- no alterations made during the painting process

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- workshop?; Lucas Cranach the Younger?

Comments:

- possibly with reference to a preparatory drawing or may even have been transferred from a pre-existing design

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2012]

  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Light microscopy
  • Dendrochronology

Support

- copper beech

- the panel consists of two verical planks. Joined and glued pith on pith. The join is rough and irregular in width. 44/42 annual rings were counted on left plank and 125/129 on the right one. The difference in the number of annual rings is caused by the grain running at an angle and a discrepancy in the number of rings at the top and bottom edges of the planks. However the four radii which were measured enabled a mid-value to be established.

[Report 13.11.1978, Dr. Peter Klein, Prof. Dr. Josef Bauch]

According to the most recent examination by Dr. Peter Klein both planks come from the same tree as the two planks from the painting: 'Virgin and Child', Frankfurt am Main 847.

  • written by Christine Unsinn

17.02.1997Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

Identification of wood species: beech wood

Youngest annual ring: 1525

  • analysed by Peter Klein

09. 1982Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared photography
  • irr
  • photographed by Fotowerkstatt, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Support made from the same tree1

Virgin and Child in front of a Curtain held up by Angels
  • Virgin and Child in front of a Curtain held up by Angels, about 1527 - 1530
  • DE_SMF_847
  • Painting
  • Städel Museum Frankfurt a.M.

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

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Entry with no author
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