The Temptation of Adam and Eve

Description The figures of Adam and Eve were carved separately and then set into the base. They are derived from Albrecht Dürer's enormously influential and often-copied engraving. Dürer himself based his representations of the first man, whom the Old Testament describes as made "in the image of God," on a then-famous antique statue of the Olympian god most known for his beauty, Apollo. The carver was probably not aware of the classical source for Dürer's Adam; he certainly made the proportions chunkier. In general, wood carvers were little influenced by the aesthetic norms of classical sculpture.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
1/01/1935	Treatment	cleaned; mounted
4/05/1960	Treatment	repaired
1/12/1962	Treatment	cleaned
11/19/1964	Treatment	repaired; examined for condition
7/28/1981	Loan Consideration	examined for loan
2/22/1982	Examination	examined for conditon
10/28/1987	Examination	examined for condiiton
10/28/1987	Treatment	cleaned; repaired

Exhibitions

• Durers Verwandlung in der Skulptur zwischen Renaissance und Barock. Staedtische Galerie Liebieghaus, Frankfurt am Main. 1981-1982.

Provenance [Paris]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1893 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1893