RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Tilman
(b. ca. 1460, Osterode, d. 1531, Würzburg)

Adam and Eve

1491-93
Sandstone
Mainfränkisches Museum, Würzburg

The sandstone statues of Adam and Eve were executed for the gate of the chapel of the Virgin in Würzburg.

The stylistic vocabulary of Riemenschneider is easy to characterize. His feminine figures, with some minor variants, all have a slender stature - narrow bust, frail limbs, fine hands - hair set in peaceful waves, a sweet face with smooth modelling and a broad flat forehead, eyes slanted towards the temples and circled by a fold of skin, a long nose and small mouth with a slight swelling of the lower lip. The masculine faces, built on the same plan, with, of course, thicker and more rugged features, present some distinct types found in many combinations in Riemenschneider 's various works.