The Garden of Eden

Based on a popular composition by Jan Brueghel the Elder, this painting features more than 100 exotic birds and animals—how many can you identify? The Garden of Eden (look for Adam and Eve) provided an appropriate setting for artists to show a variety of animals not normally found together—for example, the South American Humboldt penguin next to the European mute swans.

The 16th and 17th centuries were a period of intense interest in natural history, spurred by the discoveries of European traders and explorers in Asia, the Americas, and Africa. Many aristocrats and wealthy merchants assembled collections of natural “curiosities” from around the world—including seashells, gems and minerals, flowers, and live or stuffed birds and animals. Nearly all of the creatures in this painting are recognizable as specific species, suggesting that examples were available to artists in the Netherlands, whether in menageries, book and print illustrations, or as taxidermy.