Adam and Eve

Thomas Geminus, Compendiosa totius Anatomiae delineatio aere exarata, London: T. Geminus, 1559, engraving inserted before A1, K.7.15.

This is a copy of the male and female nude figures in Vesalius’s Epitome. While the skull was held by the male in the Epitome, here it lies on the ground with a serpent coiled through it. The addition of the serpent, a traditional symbol of original sin, and Adam holding an apple, renders this image into a figure of Adam and Eve.

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