Physical Qualities
Engraving, Sheet (trimmed within platemark): 82 × 56 mm. (3 1/4 × 2 3/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Alfred R. and Henry G. Riggs in Memory of General Lawrason Riggs
Object Number
1943.32.36
For millennia, Eve has been portrayed as leading Adam to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, despite God’s prohibition. Beham’s print shows Eve extending the fruit toward Adam. Eve’s other hand covers her sex, connecting female sexuality with suffering and death, represented by the skeleton standing between them. Rembrandt’s interpretation casts Eve clearly as the instigator, offering Adam the fruit despite his gesture reminding her of God. In Rops’ image, Eve is alone with the tree and serpent. The phrase in the branches that reads eritis similes deo (“you shall be like God”) suggests that in her reach for divine knowledge, Eve condemned herself and humanity to eternal suffering in their banishment from the Garden of Eden.
Scholtz collection
Susan Dackerman, The Baltimore Museum of Art, 'The Pious & the Profane in Renaissance Prints,' September 23, 1998-January 3, 1999.
Andaleeb Banta, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest," July 18 - December 19, 2021.
Andaleeb Banta, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Women Behaving Badly: 400 Years of Power and Protest," July 18 - December 19, 2021.
Inscribed: Recto: in image, upper left, in plate "1543 / [monogram HSB]"
Markings: CM: Robert Scholtz (Lugt 2241); Lawrason Riggs (Lugt 1756c)
