JEAN GOSSART (C. 1478-1532)
Adam and Eve
c. 1520RCIN 407615
This is the largest of Gossaert’s versions of this subject and shows his study of classical sculpture in Rome. The Trees of Life and of Knowledge of Good and Evil frame the figures, who have just eaten the forbidden fruit – the apple in Eve’s hand has a bite-mark. The two foreground plants are a sea holly to symbolise lust and columbine the fear of God.