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Lot 22
Attributed to Jan Breughel II (Antwerp 1601-1678)
A wooded landscape with God showing Adam and Eve the Tree of Knowledge, surrounded by animals
Closed4 May 2012
Price Realised
GBP 46,850
More Information
Specialist note
In Genesis 2.9 God is said to create 'all kinds of trees' and 'in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.' He then told Adam that he was free to eat from anywhere in the garden except 'from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.' (Genesis 2.17).
The depiction here of God instructing both Adam and Eve would not seem to be consistent with the account in Genesis, since Eve was created after Adam had been told not to eat fruit from the tree. Though the moment of Eve's transgression is a commonly depicted subject, the present composition is an unusual treatment of this prelapsarian moment in Paradise.
The depiction here of God instructing both Adam and Eve would not seem to be consistent with the account in Genesis, since Eve was created after Adam had been told not to eat fruit from the tree. Though the moment of Eve's transgression is a commonly depicted subject, the present composition is an unusual treatment of this prelapsarian moment in Paradise.