Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel (plate 3 from The Story of Cain and Abel)

Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel (plate 3 from The Story of Cain and Abel)

Johann Sadeler I

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This engraving is part of a set of three plates on the 'The History of Cain and Abel,' which is a chapter in Gerard de Jode's larger biblical series of 396 engravings entitled 'Thesaurus sacrarum historiarum veteris testamenti (...)' that he published in 1585. See 2015.483 for the drawing by Michiel Coxie (I) on which this print is based.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel (plate 3 from The Story of Cain and Abel)Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel (plate 3 from The Story of Cain and Abel)Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel (plate 3 from The Story of Cain and Abel)Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel (plate 3 from The Story of Cain and Abel)Adam and Eve mourning the death of Abel (plate 3 from The Story of Cain and 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.