Eve, the Serpent and Death
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Eve, the Serpent and Death | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Hans Baldung |
| Year | early 1510s–1530 |
| Medium | Oil on panel |
| Dimensions | 63 cm × 32.5 cm (25 in × 12.8 in) |
| Location | National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
Eve, the Serpent and Death (or Eve, the Serpent, and Adam as Death) is a painting by the German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung, housed in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. The date of the painting is debated, with proposals ranging from the early 1510s to between 1525 and 1530. Its four main elements are the biblical Eve, a male figure personifying Death and generally likened to Adam, a serpent, and a tree trunk.
The painting was in the collection of British politician William Angerstein before being auctioned in 1875 at Christie's as a work of Lucas Cranach the Elder, though in fact the work offers a great contrast to Cranach's many Adam and Eves, from which only the pose of Eve is borrowed. Almost a century later, it was determined to be a Baldung work by the Scottish branch of Sotheby's, where it was auctioned in 1969.
The buyer sold it to the National Gallery of Canada of Ottawa in 1972, where it has since been cleaned and restored.