The Temptation of Eve

Description

In the 1540s Italian artist Luca Penni worked at the French king François I’s court at Fontainebleau. He created this image of the temptation of Eve (etched by Jean Mignon) by directly quoting Michelangelo’s figure of Eve from the Fall of Man scene on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The twisting serpent around the tree and the figure of Adam to the left—though altered from Michelangelo’s original—are still reminiscent of the earlier composition. Penni added his own unique elements, such as a landscape scene with animals and a decorative border featuring grotesques, cornucopias, and scrollwork.

Provenance

(Hill-Stone, Inc., New York, NY) (?-1985); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 29, 1985)

The Temptation of Eve

Jean Mignon

1535–55

Accession Number

1985.54

Medium

etching

Dimensions

Sheet: 42.7 x 58.4 cm (16 13/16 x 23 in.); Secondary Support: 48.9 x 69.5 cm (19 1/4 x 27 3/8 in.)

Classification

Print

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund