Collection: Rebuke of Adam and Eve

ARTIST: Museum Religious Art Classics

ARTWORK NARRATIVE:

Artist: Charles Joseph Natoire – c. 1740

The history painter Natoire was trained in the studio of François Le Moyne (1688–1737) and this meticulously executed painting must have been intended as a tribute to his teacher. It is a pendant to an earlier work by Le Moyne of the same size and also painted on copper that depicted Adam receiving the forbidden fruit from Eve (private collection). Natoire shared with Le Moyne a predilection for the nude that here links biblical to more sensual subjects popular in eighteenth-century France. Note the rosy flesh of Natoire’s disappointed Eve, a tear glistening on her cheek, contrasted with Adam’s taut musculature.

Their feast day is December 24.