Bearded and wild-haired, in a ragged garment of skins, he strides along.
Bible in art · Genesis
Adam and Eve after Their Expulsion from Paradise
Lucas van Leyden · 1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Lucas van Leyden was still very young when he engraved this plate in Leiden in 1510. It is one of his most admired early prints: the figures are built from fine, even lines, with soft cross-hatching in the shadows.
Adam and Eve walk out into a bare land. Adam, wild-haired, in a ragged garment of skins, carries a spade over his shoulder. Eve, her hair blown by the wind, holds a baby close. A broken tree stands beside the path.
From the text
- Garments of skin made for Adam and his wife (Genesis 3:21)
- Sent out “to work the ground from which he had been taken” (Genesis 3:23)
- Their first son, Cain, is born after they leave the garden (Genesis 4:1)
The artist’s own
- The baby already in Eve’s arms on the road — the text tells of Cain’s birth only after the garden
- Eve in a long dress, Adam alone in skins
- Wind in their hair and a dead tree beside the path
Details
Adam
The spade
He carries it over his shoulder — to work the ground.
Eve and the child
She holds a baby wrapped in cloth close to her.
The tablet
A little tablet with the date 1510 and Lucas’s “L”.
Lucas van Leyden, Netherlandish, c. 1489/94–1533. National Gallery of Art, Washington (Rosenwald Collection, 1946.11.94) · Engraving · NGA Open Access: "Images of these works are available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial, under Creative Commons Zero (CC0)." (NGA open data: published_images.csv openaccess = 1)