(Nuremberg 1471-1528) Adam and Eve, engraving, monogrammed and dated AD 1504 in the plate, 24.9 x 19 cm, tightly trimmed at framing lines, lightly fixed to support at upper margin, without watermark, Meder 1, IIIa (of IIId), mounted, unframed, (Sch)

With the cleft in the tree bark under Adam’s left armpit, three light scratches at upper right. A splendid, regular and fine impression, partly with traces of the framing line or tightly trimmed along it, in an excellent condition. Adam is holding the branch of a rowan tree – the “tree of life” - in his right hand; in contrast Eve is standing by the forbidden “tree of knowledge” – the fig tree. In this engraving Dürer is referring to the moment shortly before the fall of man, when the temper of man was still in an original harmony. After Adam will have bitten into the apple, which was given to him by Eve, the harmony will be disturbed and human humours such as the choleric (cat), the phlegmatic (bull), the sanguinic (hare) and the melancholic (elk or moose) temperaments will rule over the human soul. The engraving is mentioned three times (August 20, September 9 and November 24, 1520) in Dürer’s diary during his journey through the Netherlands in 1520/21.