CRANACH, Lucas the Elder
(b. 1472, Kronach, d. 1553, Weimar)

The Fall: Eve

1510s
Lindenwood, 137 x 54 cm
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The first human pair is monumentally represented on two separate panels in front of a black background. The spatial connection is given by the "tree of knowledge" in whose branches the serpent winds.The two panels were probably the wings of an altarpiece, as Mary and Christ are depicted on their backs, but Cranach used the biblical theme of playing out all the refinement of his nude painting.