The Discovery of Adam and Eve - Barry, James (Irish painter, printmaker, and lithographer, 1741-1806, active in England) (The Tate Gallery, 1983)
The Detection of Adam and Eve
'After the Fall of Man, Christ, seated on a bank of clouds, descends to earth as judge and intercessor only to discover Adam and Eve hiding in a grove of trees. Adam points to Eve as the cause of his downfall, and Eve in her turn points to the offending serpent (see Book X, lines 85-208). This accusatory chain of figures was a common solution for this scene and can even be found in pre-Miltonic versions of the Biblical account such as in Domenichino's painting in the Barberini Gallery in Rome, where God the Father appears in place of Christ. Two preparatory drawings for Barry's print have survived, a small study in the Ashmolean Museum and a large, finished drawing in the Soane Museum. Though heroic in scale and conception, this work lacks the forceful energy of the earlier designs in which Satan plays the major roles.' (Pressly, 112)
Keywords: Art, Irish; Etching 18th century; Aquatint 18th century; Adam (Biblical figure) Art.; Eve (Biblical figure) Art.; Jesus Christ Art; Fall of man in art; Devil in art; 18th century