Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 1606 – 1669

The Fall

etching (16 × 12 cm) — 1638 Albertina, Vienna

Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn biography

This work is linked to Genesis 3:6

Adam and Eve are about to eat the forbidden fruit, the apple from the tree in the center of the garden. God had explicitly forbidden them to do so, but the subtil snake seduced Eve. Adam appears to be doubting between rebuking Eve and having a bite.

Rembrandt shows the snake as a dragon. Perhaps he did so to emphasize that at that point in time the animal was yet to be convicted to crawling on its belly for the rest of its existence.

The Fall is a rarely depicted subject in Rembrandt's work.

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