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Adam

ca. 1490–95
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 504
Tullio Lombardo came from a prestigious family of sculptors and architects in Venice. His tomb for Doge Andrea Vendramin (d. 1478) now in the basilica of S.S. Giovanni e Paolo, is the most lavish funerary monument of Renaissance Venice. It originally contained this lifesize figure of Adam, signed on the base by the sculptor.

The figure of Adam is clearly classicized, as is the architectural framework derived from the Roman triumphal arch in which he was formerly paired with a figure of Eve. Adam is based on a combination of antique figures of Antinous and Bacchus, interpreted with an almost Attic simplicity. Further refinements are his meaningful glance and eloquent hands (one holding the Apple of Temptation) and the tree trunk adorned with a serpent and a grapevine, allusions to the Fall and Redemption of Man.

Remarkable for the purity of its marble and the smoothness of its carving, Adam was the first monumental classical nude carved following antiquity; prudery led to its removal from display around 1810–19, when the monument was transferred to SS. Giovanni e Paolo.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Adam
  • Artist: Tullio Lombardo (Italian, ca. 1455–1532)
  • Date: ca. 1490–95
  • Culture: Italian, Venice
  • Medium: Marble
  • Dimensions: Overall: 6 ft. 3 1/2 in., 770 lb. (191.8 cm, 349.2697kg)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Fletcher Fund, 1936
  • Object Number: 36.163
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

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