Adam and Eve Eating the Forbidden Fruit, from Old and New Testaments
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 4 5/8 × 5 7/8 in. (11.7 × 14.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1959
Accession Number
59.644.77
Tags
About this artwork
This Etching by German artist Augustin Hirschvogel from 1548 represents an important work in the Metropolitan Museum's Drawings and Prints collection. Adam and Eve Eating the Forbidden Fruit, from Old ... [Full research-based description continues - work exemplifies period techniques, cultural context, and artistic significance within its genre and historical moment.]
Art Historical Context
In the Metropolitan Museum of Art's esteemed Drawings and Prints collection, Augustin Hirschvogel's 1548 etching *Adam and Eve Eating the Fruit, from Old and New Testaments* captures pivotal moment from Genesis. This intimate sheet, measuring just 4 5/8 × 5 7/8 inches, depicts the biblical first couple succumbing to temptation under the watchful gaze of the serpent, a scene rich with themes of sin, knowledge, and humanity's fall from grace. Donated by Harry G. Friedman in 1959, it exemplifies the Northern Renaissance's fascination with moral narratives drawn from scripture. Hirschvogel, a Ger...
About the Artist
Augustin Hirschvogel · 1503–1553
Augustin Hirschvogel (1503–1553) was born in Nuremberg into a prominent family of stained-glass painters who dominated the city's glass workshops during the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The son of Veit Hirschvogel the Elder (1461–1525), Nuremberg's official glazier who executed designs after Albrecht Dürer and Hans von Kulmbach, Augustin trained as a glass painter in his father's workshop. ...