Read the visual description
This is a painting of a tree with a serpent. The image depicts a central tree with a lush canopy of leaves, surrounded by an ornate border with floral patterns in gold and black. Winding its way around the tree's trunk is a large serpent. At the base of the tree, there is shrubbery. Traditional elements indicate a story with roots in religious or mythological themes. This is in the style of Renaissance biblical illustration.
National Gallery of Art · Print
Adam and Eve
Workshop of Master of the Borders with the Four Fathers of the Church
- Date
- 1460/1480
- Medium
- metalcut, hand-colored in yellow, red-brown lake, and green
- Dimensions
- sheet: 6.3 × 4.8 cm (2 1/2 × 1 7/8 in.)
- Classification
- Accession number
- 1943.3.680
- Credit line
- Rosenwald Collection
- Time span
- 1401 to 1500
- Department
- CG-E
Portfolio and series
- Series
- Twenty Scenes from the Oxford Passion
Subjects and terms
- Tree
- Fruit
- Female nude
- Snake
- Male nude
- Cologne
Provenance
Martin Aufhäuser [1875-1944], Munich, Holland, and Los Angeles; [1] Lessing J. Rosenwald, Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1943. [1] For complete information on Aufhäuser's collection, see Rosenwald Papers, box 9, and Richard S. Field, _Fifteenth Century Woodcuts and Metalcuts_, Washington, D.C., 1965, Preface (np).
Watermarks
none
NGA object ID 3894. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.