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Adam and Eve finding the dead body of Abel
1869
Medium
oil on canvas
Measurements
113.9 × 136.6 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1870
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
In this tragic Old Testament story, Adam and Eve discover the lifeless body of their second son, Abel, who has been murdered by their firstborn son, Cain. At the left beneath Adam’s leg is the murder weapon, a thorny stick, and a trail of blood. This work is finely painted in the neoclassical manner by Natale Carta, a Sicilian-born artist who rose to prominence in Rome in the mid nineteenth century. Carta was elected to the Academy of St Luke (the artists’ guild) in 1839, then appointed Professor of Painting in 1848 and Professor of Design in 1868, shortly before he created the NGV’s painting. This work is inscribed with red paint at its centre right edge: ‘N. Carta / Prof. dell Accademia / de. S. Luca / Roma 1869’.
Artwork Details
Place/s of Execution
Rome, Italy
Inscription
inscribed (diagonally) in red paint c.r.: N. Carta / Prof. dell Accademia / de. S. Luca / Roma 1869.
Accession Number
p.302.4-1
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Human Figures Religion and Mythology
Subjects (specific)
Abel (Old Testament character) Adam (Abrahamic religion character) Cain and Abel (Abrahamic religion narrative) corpses (bodies) deaths Eve (Abrahamic religion character) nudes (representations)
Provenance
Probably purchased directly from the artist, Rome, by Charles Summers, for the NGV, 1870.