Adam and Eve with Serpent
Medium
woodcut
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.924
Art Historical Context
In the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection, Hans Baldung Grien'sAdam and Eve with Serpent*1514) stands as a striking woodcut from the Northern Renaissance. Baldung Grien, a artist and former apprentice of Albrecht Dürer, masterfully captures the biblical Garden of Eden scene, where Adam and Eve confront temptation embodied by a sinuous serpent coiled around Eve. This print, classified under the CG-E department, exemplifies the era's fascination with human frailty and divine narrative. Woodcuts like this one were revolutionary for their accessibility—inexpensive to produce and repro...
About the Artist
Hans Baldung Grien
Hans Baldung, known by the nickname Grien, was born around 1484 or 1485 in Schwäbisch Gmünd, in the Swabia region of what is now Germany. He came from a distinguished academic family — his father Johann Baldung was a university-educated jurist who served as legal adviser to the bishop of Strasbourg — making Hans a notable exception as the first male in his family not to attend university, and one ...