Updated 14 May 2025
Currently not on display
Currently not on display
Adam and Eve
| Date | 1504 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | engraving |
| Watermarks | the head of bull (Meder 62) |
| Size（cm） | 24.8 x 19.0 |
| Inscriptions | Inscribed and dated: ADAM DVRER NORICVS FACIEBAT 1504; Monogram: AD |
| Standard ref. | Bartsch 1; Meder 1/IIa; Hollstein 1/IV; Schoch I 39 |
| Category | Prints |
| Collection Number | G.1980-0001 |
This copper engraving is one of the early works by the 15th century German painter and printmaker Schongauer. The characteristics of his early works are the way both sides of the monogram "M" are upright, the compositional elements are rather overcrowded, the hatching is unhomogeneous, and the right-hand side of the image is shadowed (assuming the light source is at the left). Schongauer's works strongly reflect the influence of early Flemish painting and are depicted in marked detail. Together with "The Adoration of the Magi"," The Flight to Egypt", and "The Death of the Virgin", this print is regarded part of an unfinished series of "The Life of the Virgin Mary". Whether Schongauer intended to create other works in addition to these four scenes remains unknown. （Source: The Degital Gallery. 1999-2006）
Provenance
Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (disposed as a doublette, 10.12.1892); H. S. Theobald, London; H. G. Gutekunst (Auc. Stuttgart, 12-14 May 1910, no. 198); C. G. Boerner Kunstantiquariat, Düsseldorf; Purchased by the NMWA, 1980.
Exhibition History
- 1996
- The Crossing Visions: European and Modern Japanese Art from the Collections of The National Museum of Western Art & The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 20 July 1996 - 8 September 1996, cat. no. 59
- 1997
- Resonating Love and Life: European Art from National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, The Niigata Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Nagaoka, 12 April 1997 - 18 May 1997, cat. no. 50
- 1999
- Rhetorik der Leidenschaft - Zur Bildsprache der Kunst in Abendland: Meisterwerke aus der Graphische Sammlung Albertina und aus der Porträtsammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek (The Body in Memory: Warburg's Treasury of Images), National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 6 July 1999 - 29 August 1999, cat. no. 19
- 2010
- Albrecht Dürer: Religion/Portraits/Nature, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 26 October 2010 - 16 January 2011, cat. no. 154
- 2016
- Lucas Cranach the Elder: 500 Years of the Power of Temptation, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 15 October 2016 - 15 January 2017, The National Museum of Art, Osaka, 28 January-16 April, cat. no. 50, col. repr.
- 2019
- The Habsburg Dynasty: 600 Years of Imperial Collections: 150 Years Friendship Austria-Japan, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 19 October 2019 - 26 January 2020, cat. no. 35
Bibliography
- 1926
- Dodgson, Campbell. Albrecht Dürer, Numbered Catalogue of Engravings, Dry-Points and Etchings with Technical Details. London, 1926, no. 39.
- 1955
- Panofsky, Erwin. The Life and Art of Albrecht Dürer. 4th ed., Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1955, pp. 84-92, fig. 117.
- 1982
- Annual Bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 15 (1980), 1982, Mayekawa, Seiro. On the New Acquisitions 1980. pp. 13-17, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions 1980. pp. 24, 26, repr.
- 1989
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1989 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), cat. no. 114
- 2009
- Hirakawa, Kayo. The Pictorialization of Dürer's Drawings in Northern Europe in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Bern, Peter Lang, 2009, pp. 94-95.
- 2016
- Lucas Cranach the Elder: 500 Years of the Power of Temptation (exh. cat.). Messling, Guido; Shinfuji Atsushi, eds. Tokyo, TBS Television, 2016, pp. 140-141, 282, cat. no. 50, col. repr.
- 2019
- The Habsburg Dynasty: 600 Years of Imperial Collections: 150 Years Friendship Austria-Japan (exh. cat.). Del Torre Scheuch, Francesca; Nakada, Asuka, eds. Tokyo, TBS Television, 2019, pp. 104-105, cat. no. 35, col. repr.