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Ten figures are positioned variously in the clouds and on the ground. In the center, a man clasps a seated woman’s hand.

In front of an orange- and blue-tinged background of clouds, six robed figures are suspended in the air. Most are gazing downward toward the grassy ground. The edge of a tree appears in the bottom left corner. On the ground are four more figures: one nude man falling to the ground, his back to us; one nude man seated in profile with his legs bent; one nude woman facing us while on her knees; and one man behind her clad in red robes, pointing his left hand into the air and grasping the woman’s right arm with his other hand.

Gallery Text

This painting is one of a series that Watts composed to visualize the story of Adam and Eve and their fall from Paradise. Its source is the second chapter of Genesis, in the Old Testament, in which “God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam,” during which he took one of Adam’s ribs and “from man, made he a woman.” Watts pictures this climactic moment of nude Eve emerging from slumbering Adam. Their work now done, angels rise in a spiral through clouds, returning to the heavens.

The garland of gilded leaves that comprises the frame emphasizes the painting’s unusual proportions and highlights the scene’s vertical action. When Grenville Winthrop acquired the work in 1939, it was in a frame designed by the artist that was apparently in disrepair. Winthrop hired M. Grieve Company, master frame-makers, to build a new frame featuring bay leaves, possibly copying an original design by Watts.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.210
People
George Frederic Watts, British (London, England 1817 - 1904 Limnerslease, Compton, England)
Frame by M. Grieve Co.
Title
The Creation of Eve
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
c. 1865-c. 1899
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/230061

Location

Location
Level 2, Room 2130, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Pre–Raphaelites and Their Legacy
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
148 x 66.4 cm (58 1/4 x 26 1/8 in.)
framed: 164.5 x 82.6 x 7 cm (64 3/4 x 32 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: backing board, black ink on paper, handwritten: "The Triumph of Creation"/ by G.F. Watts R.A./ Little Holland House/...

  • inscription: backing board, black ink on paper, handwritten: The Creation of Eve/ by George Frederick Watts R.A./"The morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."/The final act concluded, the powers of creation symbolised by the spirits of air rise Heavenwards in a triumphant swirl, from the scene of their completed/ work./At the Divine touch, Adam moves but the stupor of deep sleep is .... upon him.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Sir Edmund Davis, 1899. [Christie's, London, July 7, 1939, no. 93], sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop [via Martin Birnbaum], New York, NY, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.210
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • T. Martin Wood, "The Edmund Davis Collection--II", The International Studio (June 1915), vol. LXV, no. 267, pp. 3-17, p. 241, ill. p. 238
  • [Review of the Christie's sale], The London Times (London, England, July 8, 1939)
  • Sale of Pictures and Drawings, the Property of the Late Sir Edmund Davis, auct. cat., Christie's, London (London, England, July 7, 1939), no. 93
  • Paintings and Drawings of the Pre-Raphaelites and their Circle, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1946), no. 102
  • Allen Staley, Victorian High Renaissance, exh. cat., Minneapolis Institute of Arts (Minneapolis, MN, 1978), p. 82
  • Edgar Peters Bowron, European Paintings Before 1900 in the Fogg Art Museum: A Summary Catalogue including Paintings in the Busch-Reisinger Museum, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1990), p. 133; repr. as no. 75
  • Francesca Mitchell, "Technical Study of the Paintings by George Frederic Watts in the Collection at the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, July 1990), Unpublished, pp. 1-22 passim
  • Horst Schwebel, Die Bibel in der Kunst, das 19 jahrhundert (Stuttgart, Germany, 1993), repr. in color p. 27
  • Chikashi Kitazaki and Mina Oya, ed., Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art (Ueno, 2002), pp. 142-143, cat. #36, color repr.
  • Mark Bills and Barbara Bryant, G.F. Watts: Victorian Visionary, exh. cat., Yale University Press (U.S.) (New Haven/London, 2008), under no. 36, p. 170

Exhibition History

  • Winter Exhibition: Works by the Late George Frederick Watts, R.A., O.M. and the Late Frederick Sandys, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 10/01/1905 - 12/31/1905
  • Paintings and Drawings of the Pre-Raphaelites and their Circle, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/08/1946 - 06/01/1946
  • Pre-Raphaelite and Early French Symbolist Art in the Fogg Collections, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 01/16/1973 - 02/25/1973
  • The Pre-Raphaelites: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/04/1980 - 07/15/1980
  • Between Reality and Dreams: Nineteenth Century British and French Art from the Winthrop Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 09/14/2002 - 12/08/2002
  • 32Q: 2130 19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/10/2015 - 01/01/2050

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu