The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man

This painting is by two famous Flemish masters: Rubens and Brueghel. They made several versions of this type of painting, which were intended as showpieces that combined the best of both artists.

Although Brueghel was responsible for the composition, Rubens started the painting. Very sketchily, in thin paint, he painted Adam and Eve, the tree, the horse and the serpent. Then Brueghel took on the plants and animals, which he painted with encyclopaedic precision in finishing paint.