Adam

1533–37

Lucas Cranach the Elder (German, 1472–1553)

For most of his long career, Lucas Cranach the Elder was court painter to the Elector of Saxony. Although the general placement of Adam and Eve in these paintings reflects the influence of Albrecht Dürer’s renowned classicizing treatment of the same subject in paintings and prints, Cranach’s slender, undulating figures conform to the contemporary courtly ideals of beauty. This pair is one of the finest of the many versions of the subject made by Cranach and his workshop.

Status: On View, Gallery 238
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Lucas Cranach the Elder
Title: Adam
Place: Germany (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1533–1537
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions: 107.5 × 36.4 cm (42 5/16 × 14 5/16 in.); Framed: 121.6 × 51.6 cm (47 7/8 × 20 5/16 in.)
Credit Line: Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection
Reference Number: 1935.294
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/111718/manifest.json

“Report for the Year 1935,” Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 30 (1936), p. 17 (ill.).
Daniel Catton Rich, “An Unpublished ‘Adam and Eve’ by Cranach,” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago 30 (1936), pp. 45–50 (ill.).
“Art throughout America, Chicago: Exhibitions and Two Cranachs,” Art News 34, 30 (1936), p. 11 (ill.).
“Cranach’s ‘Adam and Eve’ Given to Chicago,” Art Digest 10, 15 (1936), p. 18 (1935.295 ill.).
Daniel Catton Rich, ed., Catalogue of the Charles H. and Mary F. S. Worcester Collection of Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings, Chicago, 1938, p. 38, no. 33, pl. 25.
“Chicago Art Institute,” Life, September 8, 1941, p. 211 (1935.295 ill.).
The Art Institute of Chicago, A Brief Illustrated Guide to the Collections (1941), p. 28.
Regina Shoolman and Charles E. Slatkin, The Enjoyment of Art in America, Philadelphia and New York, 1942, pls. 462–64.
The Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago (1945), p. 30.
“The German Masters,” Masterpieces 1 (1950), pp. 74–75 (ill.).
Charles Fabens Kelley, “Chicago: Record Years,” Art News 51, 4 (1952), pp. 56–57 (ill.).
Art Institute of Chicago, An Illustrated Guide to the Collections of The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1956, p. 27.
Art Institute of Chicago, Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Picture Collection, Chicago, 1961, pp. 109, 151 (ill.).
Frederick A. Sweet, “Great Chicago Collectors,” Apollo 84 (1966), p. 203, figs. 34–35.
John Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago, London, 1970, pp. 38–39 (ill.).
Max J. Friedländer and Jakob Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, rev. Eng. ed., Ithaca, N.Y., 1978, p. 108, no. 197, fig. 197.
John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 84.
K. Turner and J. Spicer, in The Malcove Collection: A Catalogue of the Objects in the Lillian Malcove Collection of the University of Toronto, ed. Sheila D. Campbell, Toronto, 1985, p. 385, under no. 468.
Christian Schoen, Albrecht Dürer, Adam und Eva: Die Gemälde, ihre Geschichte und Rezeption bei Lucas Cranach d. Ä. und Hans Baldung Grien, Berlin, 2001, pp. 196, 198, 204, 287 nn. 75 and 85, 288 n. 102.

Private collection, Stockholm [according to Rich 1936, p. 46]. J. Goudstikker, Amsterdam, by 1935 [record of payment to Goudstikker, September 10, 1935, Art Institute Archives]; sold to Charles H. Worcester, Chicago, September 1935; given to the Art Institute, 1935.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

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