Adam and Eve (Labour: Whan Adam Delved and Eve Span, Who Was Then the Gentleman?)
1895 or later
Medium
Process print
Dimensions
Image: 13 1/4 × 11 3/8 in. (33.7 × 28.9 cm) Sheet: 21 3/8 × 16 3/4 in. (54.3 × 42.5 cm) Frame: 24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1921
Accession Number
21.14.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 19th century, Edward Burne-Jones, leading figure in the Pre-Rapite Brotherhood and Aesthetic Movement, created evocative images blending medieval romance with biblical themes. This process print, titled *Adam and Eve (Labour Whan Adam Delved Eve Span, Who Was the Gentleman?)*, to 1895 or later and produced by Carl Hentschel. It draws from a famous 14th-century rhyme by John Ball, a radical priest during England's Peasants' Revolt, challenging social hierarchies by evoking Edenic labor: Adam delving the earth and Eve spinning wool. The scene features Adam and Eve amid trees, accompa...
About the Artist
Sir Edward Burne-Jones|Carl Hentschel · 1833–1898
Edward Coley Burne-Jones was born on 28 August 1833 in Birmingham, the son of a frame-maker, and lost his mother within a week of his birth. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and the Birmingham School of Art before proceeding to Exeter College, Oxford, in 1852, intending to study theology. At Oxford he formed a lifelong friendship with William Morris, and the two young men became intoxicat...