Image Details

M. and M. Karolik collection, Boston Museum of Fine Arts/©Three Lions, Shostal Associates, New York

The Garden of Eden, c. 1860, by Erastus Salisbury Field. Eve plucks fruit from the forbidden tree in a playful wonderland of fanciful vegetation, paired animals and plunging perspective. Long maligned as an evil temptress and seductress, Eve is now the focus of efforts by feminist Bible scholars to reinterpret the creation stories in Genesis.