Adam and Eve

Artist Jacob Jordaens (Flemish, 1593-1678)

Place of OriginFlanders

Date1642

DimensionsPainting: 80 × 72 in. (203.2 × 182.9 cm)
Frame: 90 3/4 × 83 × 4 in. (230.5 × 210.8 × 10.2 cm)

MediumOil on canvas

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from Mrs. C. Lockhart McKelvy and from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1987.201

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 36

Label TextThe leading 17th-century Flemish painter after the deaths of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens distinguished himself from his famous peers by the earthy naturalism of his paintings. In his version of the Fall of Man—Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—he suggests the sensuous, even bestial nature of Adam and Eve in their sinful state. Instead of being seduced by Eve to eat the fruit, here Adam is a willing participant, reaching greedily for his share. His eager, open-mouthed expression is echoed by the fox next to him, underlining the animalistic quality of sin. Eve, too, seems hardly to have needed persuading by the treacherous serpent.Published ReferencesFlemish Paintings in America, Antwerp, 1992, pp. 229, 231, repr. p. 230 (col.).

Sutton, Peter C., The Age of Rubens, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1993, no. 45, pp. 349-351, repr. (col.) p. 350.

Beasley, Michael John, Indeed, has Paul Really Said?:a Critique of N.T. Wright's Teaching on Justification, The Armoury Ministries Press, 2008, cover, ill. (col.).

Jordaens, 1593-1678, Paris, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, 2013, no. II-22, p. 142, repr. (col.) p. 143, repr. (col. det.) p. 1.

Jordaens, 1593-1678: La Gloire d'Anvers, Paris, Paris Musées, 2013, ill. 7, p. 8, repr. (col.) p. 11.

Exhibition HistoryAberdeen, Scotland, City Art Gallery, from 1966 to 1986.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Toledo Museum of Art, The Age of Rubens, Sept. 22, 1993-Apr. 24, 1994, no. 45.

Paris, France, Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Jordaens, 1593-1678, Sept. 19, 2013-Jan. 19, 2014.