Adam and Eve Mourning the Death of Abel

Adam and Eve Mourning the Death of Abel

Michiel Coxie (I)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The majority of autograph drawings by Michiel Coxie, who was also active as a painter and print designer, relate to prints. This sheet served as the model for the final engraving in a series of three depicting the history of Cain and Abel, of which the first plate is dated 1576. An impression of this print by Johannes I Sadeler, published in Antwerp by Gerard de Jode, is present in the Museum’s collection (acc. 53.601.17(64)). The composition and figure style, inspired by both antique and contemporary Italian models, illustrate well why Coxie, who spent the 1530s in Rome, earned the nickname of the "Netherlandish Raphael". Yet the penwork reflects the bolder style developed by the artist in his later years, as also evident in a sheet, dated 1578 and signed in the same manner as the Museum’s example, at the Crocker Art Art Gallery, Sacramento (acc. 1871.109). The subject of the first humans mourning their son killed by his brother is not found in the bible, but was inspired by the book of Genesis (chapter 4), and had been already treated in an engraving by Lucas van Leyden in 1529, and one from 1561 by Cornelis Cort after Coxie's contemporary Frans Floris.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Adam and Eve Mourning the Death of AbelAdam and Eve Mourning the Death of AbelAdam and Eve Mourning the Death of AbelAdam and Eve Mourning the Death of AbelAdam and Eve Mourning the Death of Abel

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.