The Expulsion from Paradise

Cornelis van Poelenburch (signed by artist), after c. 1646

Although God forbade Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the ‘tree of the knowledge of good and evil’, they did so anyway. As punishment, they were driven out of Paradise by an angel with a flaming sword. They fled into the barren mountain landscape. Van Poelenburch, after returning to the Netherlands from Italy, produced this type of highly refined, painstakingly painted landscape throughout the rest of his career.

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-312
  • Dimensionssupport: height 29.8 cm x width 38.4 cm
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

Identification

  • Title(s)

    The Expulsion from Paradise

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-312

  • Description

    De verdrijving uit het paradijs. Adam en Eva vluchten, in schaamte hun naaktheid verbergend, uit het paradijs. Zij worden verjaagd door een engel met een vlammend zwaard. Links grazende koeien.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    signature, lower right, with monogram: ‘C·P·’

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Cornelis van Poelenburch (signed by artist)

  • Dating

    after c. 1646

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on panel

  • Dimensions

    support: height 29.8 cm x width 38.4 cm

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1809

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    …; ? sale, Cornelis Wittert van Valkenburg (1672-1733), Rotterdam (auction house not known), 11 April 1731, no. 48 (‘Adam en Eva uit het Paradys verdreven, […], h. 12d, Br. 15d [31 x 38.5 cm]’), ? to Hendrik van Heteren (1672-1749), The Hague;{Jonckheere 2005, p. 265, no. 48.} ? his collection;{Moes/Van Biema 1909, p. 192.} ? his son, Adriaan Leonard van Heteren (1724-1800), The Hague (‘Een stuk, verbeeldende Adam en Eva, werdende door den Engel uit het Paradijs gedreven, […], h. 11 en drie vierde d., br. 14 en een half d. [30.7 x 37.9 cm] P.’);{Coll. cat. Van Heteren 1752, p. 458.} his third cousin and godson, Adriaan Leonard van Heteren Gevers (1794-1866), Rotterdam, ? (‘Adam et Eve chassé du Paradis, bois, h. 11½ l. 14½ [30.1 x 37.9 cm]’), or ? (‘Mème sujet mais d’une ordonnance differente, bois, h. 11¾ l. 14 [30.7 x 36.6 cm]’);{Coll. cat. Gevers 1808, p. 149, no. 79 or no. 80.} from whom, fl. 100,000, with 136 other paintings _en bloc_ (known as the ‘Kabinet van Heteren Gevers’), to the museum, by decree of Louis Napoleon, King of Holland, and through the mediation of his father Dirk Cornelis Gevers (1763-1839), 8 June 1809{Verroen 1985, p. 17, notes 2, 3.}

Documentation

    • Th.J. Verroen, Een verstandig rijk man. De achttiende-eeuwse verzamelaar Adriaan Leonard van Heteren, Leids Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek 1985, p. 47
    • Documentatiemap Schilderijen.
    • G. Hoet (?), Catalogus of naamlijst van schilderijen, II, 1752, p. 458
    • J.R. Judson, Allegory of Dawn and Night, Wadsworth Atheneum Bulletin (1966), p. 8
    • Hans den Hartog Jager, 'Galerij : het is hier fantastisch', Oog 3 (2009) nr. 5, p. 26-37, afb. p. 34-35.

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