Adam and Eve
Medium
Etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
16.2 × 11.6 cm (6 7/16 × 4 5/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
70019
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn's etching of Adam and Eve, depicts the story of the first Man and Woman with descriptive, wiry lines that create an evocative atmosphere. Shown at the moment of temptation, the couple is surrounded by light that seems about to be blotted out by the dark tree branch and leering serpent (the devil) stretching ominously above them. With their fleshy bodies and ordinary faces (so far removed from Dürer's idealized pair), Rembrandt's Adam and Eve are easy to identify with...
About the Artist
Rembrandt van Rijn · 1606–1669
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) stands as one of the greatest visual artists in the history of Western art and the most important Dutch painter of the 17th century. Born in Leiden to a prosperous miller's family, Rembrandt transformed painting through his revolutionary use of light and shadow, his psychological depth in portraiture, and his elevation of etching to a fine art. His approx...