BRUEGHEL, Jan the Elder
(b. ca. 1568, Brussel, d. 1625, Antwerpen)

The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (detail)

1616
Oil on copper
Private collection

The viewer is drawn to the bewildering array of species, ranging from ostriches, a dromedary, lions and a grey horse on the left. In the distant corner the eye alights upon the true subject of the picture, the tiny naked figures of Adam and Eve shown at the moment when they are led by the serpent to partake of the fruit of tree and thus commit the original Sin.