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A VISUAL GUIDE THROUGH PRADO MUSEUM

ROOM 025

Floor 1

ADAM AND EVE

Rubens

You are looking at a guide about faith. In these paintings, the main idea is the human need to believe in something divine. This belief gives us hope and the strength to continue living in a world full of fears and dangers. This guide focuses on the Christian tradition and its famous artworks.

This specific painting, "Adam and Eve", shows us that, according to the Christian faith, we still have the same human nature even after the promise of faith. This leads every generation to ask the same question, can faith truly set us free?

Painting audio guide:

00:00 / 02:13

Audio made by Miguel Catalán highschool students Dominic and Leyre

Audio transcription:

“This masterpiece, Adán y Eva, was painted between 1628 and 1629. The painter was Peter Paul Rubens. He studied Titiano's collection in his second trip to Spain. He copied some paintings and with it keeping his own concept of painting. He made some significant changes with respect to the original. This work of art was painted with oil on canvas and its measures are 238 centimeters in height and 184.5 centimeters in width. His work of art is at room 25, where you can find this curious copy and it has some things that makes it different to the original. The colors are more realistic than Titiano's and there are animals which represents the action of each person. These are a fox that is at the back of Eve, which represents the bad action that she was doing: grabbing the forbidden fruit. And the parrot, which represents the action of Adam, that he was trying to make Eve to stop. He was trying to do a good action, so that's what the parrot represents. All of these things are part of the third part of the first Genesis of the Bible. The techniques of this work of art are the glazing, which makes the work of art to have luminosity and add depth to the scene. Something really curious is the work of the brush, so fluid, energetic, like if it was made so quick. The color palette is very warm and realistic according to the painting, the soft chromatic contrast and the harmony that creates to the painting. The construction of the layers to make the flesh tones with an opaque basis, warm mid-tones and luminous highlights in key areas. We invite you to compare it to Titiano's, which is next to this one."

Did you know that...

Curiosity 1

Unlike the original painting by Titian, Rubens chose to paint Adam’s body inspired by the Belvedere Torso (a famous ancient Greek sculpture). This statue influenced many Renaissance masters, including Michelangelo. As a result, Rubens' Adam is much more muscular and robust than Titian's version.

Curiosity 2

Another interesting detail is that in both Rubens' and Titian's versions, Adam and Eve have belly buttons (navels). This is quite strange from a theological point of view because they were not born from a woman, so they shouldn't have this "first human scar."

Curiosity 3

The changes Rubens made compared to the original are very significant. One of the most noticeable is the snake's gaze. In this version, the snake looks only at Eve. In Titian’s original, the snake looks at Adam, suggesting that he was also responsible for the sin from the very beginning.

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If you're interested in how humans are easily influenced, follow this path

ROOM 025

Floor 1

ADAM AND EVE

Rubens

1.Adán_Y_Eva.png

Technical specifications

 

Date: 1628-29

Technique: Oil

Medium: Canvas

Width: 184.5 cm Height: 238 cm

here you art ©

by Inés García Iglesias

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