Paradise and the Fall

The full title of this panel is The Earthly Paradise and the Fall of Adam and Eve. The snaked has pointed Eve to the delicious fruits in the tree of knowledge. Even though they were told not to eat the fruit, Eve gives an apple to Adam and takes one herself too.

The original sin is set in a luscious landscape with numerous different animals and birds.

Jan Brueghel here collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens painted Adam and Eve and probably also the horse; Brueghel did the landscape.

Brueghel and Rubens both were popular artists whose work was highly respected. Brueghel was a talented painter of landscapes, and Rubens was particularly strong in human figures. The often worked together. The fruits of their collaboration were even more popular than their solo works, and they could not meet the demand for their joint works. Many lesser artists copied these paintings.