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A nude couple kissing in a garden as a flying figure looks on overhead

Under a bower of twining flowered branches, a woman and a man sit naked, side by side in a garden, sharing a kiss. A long, pale orange serpent is coiled along the ground at their feet, its head rising up beside them at left. Small flames sprout from the top of its head as it looks up and away to the left baring its fangs. Directly above the bower, a male figure floats downward through the air, surrounded by flames as he looks down at the pair.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.406
People
William Blake, British (London, England 1757 - 1827 London, England)
Title
Satan Watching the Endearments of Adam and Eve
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Adam and Eve in Paradise
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
1806
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/297859

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Watercolor, black ink, and graphite on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
26.7 x 20 cm (10 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.406
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Martin Butlin, The Paintings and Drawings of William Blake, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT and London, England, 1981), no. 531, pl. 644
  • Martin Butlin and Ted Gott, William Blake in the Collection of the National Gallery of Victoria, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (Melbourne, 1989), under no. 1, fig. 4
  • Jackie DiSalvo, ed., Blake, Politics, and History, Garland Publishers, Inc. (New York, NY and London, England, 1998), p. 17, fig. 8
  • 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), cat. no. 35, repr. (color)

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