The Fall of Man

Description Adam and Eve, the first humans, are depicted at the moment of their transgression, which led to their expulsion from Eden. Spurred on by the serpent, Eve hands Adam an apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The monkey, an animal known for its lustfulness, indicates their folly. The bodies of Adam and Eve are arranged in graceful curves that draw them together around the central axis of the tree. The representation of a leafy tree, a motif associated with landscape painting, is a striking example of a 17th-century sculptor challenging the limits of his medium in the pursuit of naturalism.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
7/23/1974	Treatment	cleaned; coated

Provenance Marcus Antocolsky, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, June 10, 1901 [number unknown]; Madame C. Lelong, Paris, by purchase; Sale, Paris, April 30, 1903, no. 301; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1903 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1903