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Arm of Eve
About the Artwork
Arm of Eve is the only surviving preparatory drawing for Dürer’s life-size panels of Adam and Eve in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. It is also one of the few surviving drawings by the artist made on Venetian blue paper, a support he began to use for his chiaroscuro studies while visiting Venice in the winter of 1506–7. With extraordinary economy of means, using only black and gray ink and a limited amount of wash and gouache for shading and heightening, Dürer suggested the grace and balance of the complete human form in this composition of a disembodied arm and hand. Such a study of a hand in ideal proportions cannot help but suggest the hand of the artist, a self-referential nod to his own abilities.
Inscriptions
signed, center right, in gray ink: 1507 / [artist monogram: AD]; verso, lower left, in graphite: Nro 24. F 13 z. [bn?] 10zgL.; Watermark: Anchor (similar to Briquet 461); "franck / 828" in graphite, center verso (Lugt 946)
Provenance
?-1818/23: Joseph Grünling (1875-1845), Vienna (Lugt 1107). ?-1888: Alfred Ritter von Franck (1808-1884), Vienna/Graz (Lugt 947) ca. 1884: With Amsler & Ruthardt, Berlin ?-1888: Ferdinand Meder, New York; his sale "with Mr. C. Klackner", New York, 1888 ?-1899: Edward Habich (1818-1901), Kassel; his sale, Gutekunst-Auction, Stuttgart, 27 April 1899, lot 236; 1899-1926: Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Vienna (property of Archduke Friedrich of Austria) (Lugt 174) ca. 1926-ca. 1938: Eugene Meyer (1875-1959), Washington, DC 1938: with Arthur H. Harlow & Co., New York 1938: with Walter Schatzki, New York; 1938-1965: Frits Lugt (1884-1970), Paris/The Hague 1965: with Richard H. Zinser, New York. 1965-: Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Golden Anniversary of Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-October 16, 1966). Drawings from the Museum Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 9, 1967-January 1, 1968). Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968). Durer in America: His Graphic Work. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (organizer) (April 24-July 7, 1971). Dürer in America: His Graphic Work. National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (April 25-June 6, 1971). Idea to Image: Preparatory Studies from the Renaissance to Impressionism. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 19-March 23, 1980). Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983). Gothic and Renaissance Art in Nuremberg, 1300-1550. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (April 8-June 22, 1986); Germanisches Nationalmuseum, 90402 Nürnberg, Germany (July 24-September 28, 1986). Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991). Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002). Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471–1528)
- Date
- 1507
- Medium
- point of brush and gray and black wash, brush and gray and black wash, heightened with white gouache
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 34.4 x 26.7 cm (13 9/16 x 10 1/2 in.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Alan Kennedy
- Accession no.
- 1965.470
More by Albrecht Dürer in museum collections
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 7, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00000329
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