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The Creation
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death series, a collection of 41 prints, begins with this scene of the sixth day of Creation, when, according to Genesis, humankind was made. Here, a menagerie of animals crowd around in awe as God stoops to pull Eve from Adam’s side. From above, the moon, sun, and winds witness the birth. Eve is figured in this print as a fully formed, adult woman, though, much like the tree limbs behind her, she branches off from her partner, suggesting her origin from Adam’s rib. The pair is unaware of their nakedness, a sign of humanity’s then sinless state.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineDance of Death: The Creation, c. 1526. Hans Holbein the Younger (German, active England and Switzerland, 1497/98–1543). Woodcut; sheet: 7.1 x 4.8 cm (2 13/16 x 1 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1929.144
