The Expulsion from Paradise

Also known as: The Creation and the Early History of Man: The Expulsion from Paradise

About the Artwork

Originally this exquisite sheet belonged to a series of 21 drawings by the Antwerp artist Jan Wierix illustrating the creation and early history of man as recounted in Genesis. In this scene, an angel casts Adam and Eve out of paradise for their transgressions. Precious in its delicate pen strokes and careful detail, the drawing describes Eden as a microcosm populated by an array of animals whose tranquility is in the midst of being interrupted by human actions. Pen and ink drawings on vellum such as this were prized by collectors, who valued them as miniature paintings to be displayed in albums and sometimes framed on the wall.

Inscriptions

signed, lower left, in brown ink: Iohan wiricx inue [abbreviation line over "u" and "e"]; verso, lower left, in graphite: No ["o" with double underlines]

Exhibition history

Landscape in Detail. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-November 3, 1996). 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). Imagining the Garden. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24, 2015-March 6, 2016). Tales of the City: Drawing in the Netherlands from Bosch to Bruegel. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (October 9, 2022-January 8, 2023).

Quick Overview

Artist: Jan Wierix (Flemish, c. 1549–after 1615)
Date: c. 1606
Medium: Pen and brown ink on parchment
Dimensions: Sheet: 9.5 x 12.4 cm (3 3/4 x 4 7/8 in.); Image: 9 x 11.9 cm (3 9/16 x 4 11/16 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: Drawing
Department: Drawings
Credit line: Dudley P. Allen Fund
Accession no.: 1994.16

Provenance

?-1910: Adalbert Freiherr von Lanna (1836-1909), Prague (Lugt 2773) 1910: his sale, H. G. Gutekunst, Stuttgart, 6-11 May 1910, lot 596 ?-1930: Toni Straus-Negbaur (?-1942), Berlin-Grunewald (Lugt 2459a) 1930: her sale, Paul Cassirer and Hugo Helbing, Berlin, 25-26 November 1930, no. 115. 1993: with Katrin Bellinger Kunsthandel, Munich 1994: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.