Adam and Eve Hearing the Judgment of the Almighty

From 1812 Martin's spectacular oil paintings of mythological, biblical, and historical themes were exhibited with much popular acclaim. The artist's compositions were based on a striking formula of small figures engulfed by settings of awe-inspiring landscapes or architecture. In the 1820s he turned to printmaking, first etching, then making mezzotints of his paintings. Mezzotint, with its rich, velvety blacks and bright white highlights, was a medium particularly suited to the translation of the dramatic chiaroscuro of Martin's paintings into prints. Following the enthusiastic reception of a series based on John Milton's "Paradise Lost", Martin proposed in 1831 to issue a series of Illustrations to the Bible, intending to create forty scenes from the Old and New Testaments. The series was not, however, a commercial success and only twenty plates, all from the Old Testament, were ever made. This print, the fourth in the series, shows Adam and Eve rebuked by God, represented by the rays of light shining from the trees at the right, who asks, "hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?" (Genesis 3:11).