Adam and Eve
Panel
ca. 1600 (made)
ca. 1600 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Object Type
This painting forms part of a series of panels of Old Testament characters that also include Moses and Joshua and the prophets Ezekiel and and Elias. It may originally have decorated the screen or gallery of a church or private house. It is typical of the plainer style of church decoration that prevailed after the Reformation from about 1540 onwards. The surface was no longer embellished with rich gilding and intricate two-dimensional patterns. The purpose of such panels was didactic rather than devotional. Simple images, large text and the use of English rather than Latin made the stories accessible to a wide range of people, many of whom were neither well-educated nor literate.
Subject & Style
The panel tells the biblical story of the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had forbidden them to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge. As the serpent watches from above, Eve offers Adam an apple from the tree. By this date the close study of anatomy and proportion had led to greater knowledge of the human body, and artists began to represent it more accurately. Here the artist has achieved a naturalistic rendering of the naked figures by subtle modelling of the flesh tones. The form of the two figures, however, relates more to the ideal body shape of the period, as reflected in the outline of fashionable dress.
Places
The panels almost certainly come from the south-west of England. The figures are similar to those on a painted ceiling at Muchelney Abbey and in plasterwork at Montacute House, both in Somerset. The lettering is similar to inscriptions on walls of the Dorset churches of Puddletown and Cerne Abbas. The panels were purchased in 1914 from a dealer from Lynmouth, Devon, by the name of T. Charbonnier. There was a strong tradition in south-western England in the early 17th century of portraying figures of this kind with associated texts in plasterwork. This panel, one of a group of 25 in the V&A, is a rare surviving example of the tradition executed in paint on panel.
Time
From about 1590 stories from the Old Testament supplied popular decorative themes in domestic and church settings in the West Country. Examples include Prideaux Place (1590s -1630s) and Lanydrock (1630s), Cornwall, and the parish church of Widecombe in the Moor, Devon.
This painting forms part of a series of panels of Old Testament characters that also include Moses and Joshua and the prophets Ezekiel and and Elias. It may originally have decorated the screen or gallery of a church or private house. It is typical of the plainer style of church decoration that prevailed after the Reformation from about 1540 onwards. The surface was no longer embellished with rich gilding and intricate two-dimensional patterns. The purpose of such panels was didactic rather than devotional. Simple images, large text and the use of English rather than Latin made the stories accessible to a wide range of people, many of whom were neither well-educated nor literate.
Subject & Style
The panel tells the biblical story of the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had forbidden them to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge. As the serpent watches from above, Eve offers Adam an apple from the tree. By this date the close study of anatomy and proportion had led to greater knowledge of the human body, and artists began to represent it more accurately. Here the artist has achieved a naturalistic rendering of the naked figures by subtle modelling of the flesh tones. The form of the two figures, however, relates more to the ideal body shape of the period, as reflected in the outline of fashionable dress.
Places
The panels almost certainly come from the south-west of England. The figures are similar to those on a painted ceiling at Muchelney Abbey and in plasterwork at Montacute House, both in Somerset. The lettering is similar to inscriptions on walls of the Dorset churches of Puddletown and Cerne Abbas. The panels were purchased in 1914 from a dealer from Lynmouth, Devon, by the name of T. Charbonnier. There was a strong tradition in south-western England in the early 17th century of portraying figures of this kind with associated texts in plasterwork. This panel, one of a group of 25 in the V&A, is a rare surviving example of the tradition executed in paint on panel.
Time
From about 1590 stories from the Old Testament supplied popular decorative themes in domestic and church settings in the West Country. Examples include Prideaux Place (1590s -1630s) and Lanydrock (1630s), Cornwall, and the parish church of Widecombe in the Moor, Devon.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Adam and Eve (generic title) |
| Materials and techniques | Oil on oak panel |
| Brief description | Adam and Eve |
| Physical description | One of twenty five panels painted with figures representing characters from the Old Testament: Adam and Eve. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Marks and inscriptions | Top border: 'I will put enmitie between the seed of ye woman and ye serpent' Genesis 3.
Bottom border: 'EAVE' & 'ADEM'
|
| Gallery label | British Galleries:
These panels, which may have decorated a screen or gallery of a church, are from a series showing Old Testament figures, a favourite motif of evangelical reformers. Joshua is shown in contemporary dress. The texts are from the Henry VIII version of the Bible of 1538, not the authorised version of 1611.(27/03/2003) |
| Object history | The set bought from J. Charbonnier, The Art Gallery, Lynmouth, N. Devon for £37: 10s 'rubbed, scratched and cracked' (RP 14/601M. 1676). Probably that of the decoration of the screen or gallery of a church. Stated to have come from the neighbourhood of Plymouth. |
| Summary | Object Type This painting forms part of a series of panels of Old Testament characters that also include Moses and Joshua and the prophets Ezekiel and and Elias. It may originally have decorated the screen or gallery of a church or private house. It is typical of the plainer style of church decoration that prevailed after the Reformation from about 1540 onwards. The surface was no longer embellished with rich gilding and intricate two-dimensional patterns. The purpose of such panels was didactic rather than devotional. Simple images, large text and the use of English rather than Latin made the stories accessible to a wide range of people, many of whom were neither well-educated nor literate. Subject & Style The panel tells the biblical story of the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had forbidden them to eat fruit from the tree of knowledge. As the serpent watches from above, Eve offers Adam an apple from the tree. By this date the close study of anatomy and proportion had led to greater knowledge of the human body, and artists began to represent it more accurately. Here the artist has achieved a naturalistic rendering of the naked figures by subtle modelling of the flesh tones. The form of the two figures, however, relates more to the ideal body shape of the period, as reflected in the outline of fashionable dress. Places The panels almost certainly come from the south-west of England. The figures are similar to those on a painted ceiling at Muchelney Abbey and in plasterwork at Montacute House, both in Somerset. The lettering is similar to inscriptions on walls of the Dorset churches of Puddletown and Cerne Abbas. The panels were purchased in 1914 from a dealer from Lynmouth, Devon, by the name of T. Charbonnier. There was a strong tradition in south-western England in the early 17th century of portraying figures of this kind with associated texts in plasterwork. This panel, one of a group of 25 in the V&A, is a rare surviving example of the tradition executed in paint on panel. Time From about 1590 stories from the Old Testament supplied popular decorative themes in domestic and church settings in the West Country. Examples include Prideaux Place (1590s -1630s) and Lanydrock (1630s), Cornwall, and the parish church of Widecombe in the Moor, Devon. |
| Associated objects | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | W.39-1914 |
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| Record created | April 29, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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