Discuss the prominent themes and symbolism of Albrecht Dürer’s Adam and Eve (Revel Asset: Closer Look: Dürer’s Adam and Eve).

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Albrecht Dürer’s Adam and Eve portrays the biblical couple before the Fall. They are represented according to Classical models of proportion. Light plays across the bodies of the figures, expressing both divine and Dürer’s own inspiration. The parrot behind Adam represents language and wisdom. Its location next to Adam associates these attributes with the man, while the woman Eve is depicted next to the snake, the symbol of temptation. The cat at Eve’s feet is crouched and preparing to pounce on the mouse at Adam’s feet. This refers to death, which will enter the world after the Fall. The four animals around Eve’s feet represent the four humors of the Roman Physician Galen. The elk represents black bile (melancholy), the rabbit blood (sensuality), the ox phlegm (sluggishness), and the cat yellow bile (anger and cruelty). Medieval theologians believed these humors were in perfect balance before the Fall but became disordered after the disobedience and punishment of the first couple. A placard in Latin, which states “Albrecht Dürer of Nuremburg made this in 1504,” hangs from the tree of life—a humorous allusion to the artist’s own conception of his immortality.