Animals in Lucas Cranach's Adam and Eve

Cranach’s representation of the mature stag with antlers probably refers to the resurrected Christ, and also to the righteous at the Second Coming, whom the theologian Aponius compared to stags raising their antlers. The parched deer is a reference to Psalm 42, which compares the human thirsting after God to the stag in search of water. The very species depicted is also relevant: roe deer were famed for their chastity and their devotion to one mate.

The most common symbol of Christ the redeemer was the stag. The young antler-less roebuck (shown drinking from the pond at the lower right) could not defend himself, and thus was at the mercy of mankind, like the defenceless Christ when he first entered the world.

The heron, at the bottom right edge of the panel, shared these moral readings, as well as signifying one steadfast in the right path.

The partridges next to the stork have a more ambiguous allegorical meaning. The Physiologus, an early medieval treatise, described them as creatures prone to deceit and impurity. It is probable that Cranach uses them here, as a pair, to represent the positive power of love.

There are alternate readings of the lion – as an opponent of the stag and a personification of the devil; or to signify Christ, with whom it shared three natures, and naturally overcame evil (the devil).

There is evidence to support a reading of the boar as representing qualities opposite to those of the sheep (anger, brutality and lust) and as an embodiment of the Antichrist. But the position is not clear-cut: the boar could be interpreted more positively as justice, independence and courage in the face of God’s enemies.

Cranach’s horse, another symbol of Christ, which appears to be on the point of moving out of the pictorial space, suggests that the powers of good are about to abandon Eden with the imminent arrival of Original Sin.