Adam and Eve in Paradise, after Maarten de Vos and Jan Sadeler I

Adam and Eve in Paradise, after Maarten de Vos (1532–1603) and Jan Sadeler I (1550–1600)
Oil on canvas, doubled, 32 × 44 cm
Flemish School, 17th century or later

This intimate cabinet painting depicts the story of the Fall of Man, blending in a single composition both the Temptation and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden. At left, Adam and Eve, modestly covered with fig leaves, recoil as God confronts them after they have eaten from the forbidden tree. To the right, God, radiant and robed in pink and blue, raises his hand in judgment, while a lion, deer, lamb, and even a porcupine symbolize the created world around them. In the background, the serpent winds itself around the Tree of Knowledge as Eve offers the fruit to Adam — a reminder of the moment of disobedience that set the scene in motion.

The composition is taken directly from an engraving by Jan Sadeler I, published in Antwerp in 1583 after a design by the Antwerp master Maarten de Vos. De Vos’ biblical series, The Story of the First Men, was widely circulated through prints, inspiring painters across Europe to adapt the scenes into painted form for domestic interiors. This painting, modest in size, was likely intended for a private Flemish home, where it would have served both as moral reminder and as a decorative image rich in narrative detail.

The original 1583 engraving by Sadeler after Maarten de Vos  in the British Museum Collection.