Mariotto Albertinelli
1513–14
Oil paint on wood
165.5 x 56.2 cm
The biblical story unfolds in four episodes from left to right: after creating the animals, God gives life to Adam and shapes Eve from Adam’s rib. Finally, a serpent with a human face tempts them to taste a fruit from the tree God had forbidden them to touch. This will lead to their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
This is one of three scenes commissioned by the Italian banker Giovanmaria Benintendi. They were designed to be set into the decorative panelling of a room in his family’s palace in Florence. The landscape, with its rolling hills and river, recalls the countryside outside the city.