The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

c. 1520

workshop of Peter Vischer

(German, 1487–1528)
Germany, Nuremberg, 16th century
bronze
Overall: 14.6 x 12 x 12.7 cm (5 3/4 x 4 3/4 x 5 in.)
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1961.29
Location: not on view

Description

The figures of Adam and Eve embrace on a bench. Together, the figures straddle an upright cornucopia that is meant to serve as an inkwell. The drapery strewn across the figures' laps—and thus covering their genitals—suggests that the scene takes place after the Fall. One can see a remnant of the Tree of Life to the right of Eve. Numerous bronze inkwells of the period survive, though they usually feature a single figure, usually allegorical, and not such an elaborate composition as seen here. This inkwell was formerly in the collection of the Duke of Arenberg, a noble house of the Habsburg Netherlands. The Vischers (Hermann I, Peter the elder, Hermann II, Peter the younger, Hans, Jakob, Paulus, and Georg) were the most renowned bronze casters of Renaissance Nuremberg, and had drawn patrons from across Europe. Because of certain ambiguities in its style, in the past the inkwell had been attributed to Georg Vischer. Stylistically, it resembles some of the miniature figures in Peter Vischer the younger's Shrine of St. Sebald (Church of St. Sebald, Nuremberg), portions of which had been cast at approximately the same time. South German bronze foundries in the sixteenth century would often adapt stylistic elements of Venetian bronzes to suit local tastes, and this inkwell is a product of this phenomenon.
  • Duke of Arenberg
    Herbert N. Bier (London, England), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1961.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 106 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 106 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 126 archive.org
  • Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).
  • {{cite web|title=Adam and Eve|url=false|author=Peter Vischer|year=c. 1520|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.29