Giuliano di Piero di Simone Bugiardini
(Italian, Florentine, 1475–1554)
Adam; Eve
Oil on Canvas
(Italian, Florentine, 1475–1554)
Adam; Eve
Oil on Canvas
Label on painting:
Towards the end of the first decade of the sixteenth century Bugiardini painted a number of oblong paintings on canvas with male and female nudes in a landscape. These may have been intended to hang in a bedroom framed in a wainscoting. This pair is unusual in illustrating a Biblical rather than a classical theme: the temptation of Eve. The landscape and figure types, with their angular contours, recall Northern paintings and prints, which Bugiardini must have studied closely. The picture was long ascribed to Piero di Cosimo.
The painting “Adam; Eve” can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City within the European Paintings section. It was painted by Giuliano di Piero di Simone Bugiardini who was also known as Giuliano di Piero di Simone. It measures 61 ¾ inches wide by 26 3/8 inches high. Bugiardini was known for painting oblong paintings on canvas with male and female nudes.
Some of Bugiardini’s other works include “The Madonna and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist”, “Portrait of a Woman, called "The Nun", “Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist”, and “Virgin and Child with the Infant St John the Baptist” which all can be found at www.lib-art.com (direct link below.) Bugiardini trained with a man named Domenico Ghirlandaio in his workshop in Florence, Italy. Bugiardini went to Rome in 1508 to help Michelangelo paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
This painting depicts the temptation of Eve, whose story is told in the first book of Genesis in the Holy Bible. Eve is handing the forbidden fruit to Adam while the serpent looks on. The serpent, who is Satan, has the head of Eve, which I can only imagine is representing Eve taking the place of the serpent’s role when the serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit after God had specifically instructed both Adam and Even not to eat the fruit. God said man would die if Adam or Eve were to eat fruit from the tree of good and evil. The serpent tells Eve that this is not true and, conversely, if they eat the fruit they will become like God when he says, “Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 2:4-3:24) The scripture goes on to say:
And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Other places where this painting has been on exhibition are:
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Bacchiacca and His Friends," January 10–February 19, 1961, no. 22.
Rochester, N.Y. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester. "Renaissance Vignettes," February–March 1964
References:
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/adam_eve_giuliano_di_piero_di_simone_bugiardini/objectview.aspx?collID=11&OID=110000256
http://www.lib-art.com/artgallery/834-giuliano-bugiardini.html
P Author. “The Old Testament King James Version” from the book of Genesis. Literature of the Western World: Vol. I 5th ed. Brian Wilkie, James Hurt. Macmillan 2001 p. 70
I declare the honor pledge
