A male and female nude stand together in front of a tree, fig leaves cover midsections, snake in center.
Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504. Engraving on off-white antique laid paper, iii/iii. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray, G1055. Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Albrecht Dürer, Adam and Eve, 1504. Engraving on off-white antique laid paper, iii/iii. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray, G1055. Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A nude male figure (Adam) stands on the left looking towards a nude female figure (Eve) to the right. His right hand holds onto a branch, a bird is perched to left of his head. Adam’s left arm extends toward Eve. Eve’s left hand is slightly behind her back holding a fruit, her other hand is receiving another piece of fruit from a snake coiled around a branch between them. Other animals are depicted at the bottom: a mouse, its stretched tail is under Adam’s left foot, a sleeping cat in the middle; a rabbit, and two horned animals behind the tree.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
G1055
People
Albrecht Dürer, German (Nuremberg 1471 - 1528 Nuremberg)
Title
Adam and Eve
Other Titles
Alternate Title: The Fall of Man
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1504
Culture
German
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/274094

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Engraving printed in black ink on white antique laid paper, lined
Technique
Engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 25.1 × 19.2 cm (9 7/8 × 7 9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • watermark:
  • inscription: verso, graphite: fr Ev. [Evans] Apr. 56 / £ [illeg.] 15.15
  • collector's mark: verso, graphite: E. H. G. [Edward Hale Greenleaf (Lugt 5207)]
  • collector's mark: verso, purple stamp with graphite numbering within: GRAY COLLECTION, / Harvard College / 1055 [within an oval borderline (Lugt 4836)]
  • inscription: in plate, on tablet hanging from tree: ALBERT9 / DVRER / NORICVS / FACIEBAT / 1504

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Francis Calley Gray, bequest to nephew, 1856.
William Gray, gift to Harvard University, 1857.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
Meder iia/iiid
Standard Reference Number
Bartsch 1, Schroch 39, Meder 1

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of William Gray from the collection of Francis Calley Gray
Object Number
G1055
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Reimagining the Past: André Brink in Conversation with Reingard Nethersole, T'kama-Adamastor: Inventions of Africa in a South African Painting, ed. Ivan Vladislavic, University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa), p. 53, fig. 79, p. 53, fig. 79
  • Jonathan Shaw and Jennifer Carling, "Spheres of Knowledge: Artistic discovery in Renaissance Europe", Harvard Magazine (Cambridge, MA, November-December 2011), vol. 114, no. 2, pp.42-47, p 46
  • Susan Dackerman, ed., Prints and the Pursuit of Knowledge in Early Modern Europe, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2011), cat. 53 p. 234-235, repr

Exhibition History

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