ADAM AND EVE Albrecht Dürer
These paintings belong to the Prado Museum, a Spanish museum and one of the most important and most visited on the world. Dürer painted them for the Nuremberg’s City Council. Then, they were brought to Prague Castle, donated by the city of Nuremberg to King Rudolf II. During the Thirty Years War, Swedish and Saxon armies sacked the castle and the works ended up being owned by the Swedish king. His daughter, Queen Christina gave them to the Spanish king Philip IV. In the 18th century, King Carlos III ordered that these paintings had to be burned, but finally he decided that they could be moved to the San Fernando’s Academy and be used to teach young artists. Finally in 1827 they went to the Prado Museum. It was painted in 1507, according to the sign on Eve’s panel. It was painted by the painter Albrecht Dürer, the most famous artist of German Renaissance. He is known worldwide for his works, which th exerted a profound influence on artists of the 16 century. Dürer represented Adam and Eve in two different panels and he used oil on board to paint them. Adam’s figure is presented on a dark background, so all the attention is focused on the male figure. He is painted full-lenght, on a land of rocks. Adam's body is tilted. He holds an apple branch of the Tree of Life, where the snake is coiled. His face is young, showing an expression of surprise and with blond curls.
Eve stays next to the Tree, where the snake is coiled around a branch. She is also represented full-lenght, but her position is different: she is presented facing forward and her right leg forward. Eva’s skin colour is lighter than Adam’s colour. Eva’s face represents innocence and she has long blond hair. On Eve’s panel there is a sign with the date of the painting and Dürer’s signature. Both figures have a neutral background. The bodies follow a very long canon: nine heads, instead of the traditional model of eight heads. Some critics attribute it to a Gothic influence or mannerism. They are a Renaissance work of art because they were interested in representing ideal beauty in this period and he painted the human body and nature to reach this goal. The personal traits are found in the bodies, they are articulated and idealized in the Italian way. The lights, colours, shading and volume meats are Renaissance aspects. They were the first paintings to show full-length naked bodies in the North of Europe. The subject of these paintings is not only religious. Dürer was interested in the canon of proportions and the ideal relation between the human body and nature. One of the ways Dürer found to express this interest was the biblical theme of Adam and Eve. Adam represents the ideal male beauty (Apolo) and Eve, the ideal female beauty (Venus). Dürer made a previous engraving about the same subject. They show the happy stage of humanity in which Adam and Eve lived the paradise on Earth. Their happiness is perfect, so the bodies are also perfect, according to the classical ideal of beauty.
ANA DE LA FUENTE CRUZ 3º ESO A