The Creation of Eve

Marten de Vos was born in Antwerp, the son of the painter Pieter de Vos. He may have trained with his father and, perhaps, also Frans Floris, one of the leading history painters in mid-century Antwerp. In 1552, de Vos traveled to Italy in the company of his friend and fellow painter, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Van Mander describes his visit to Rome and Venice, where, according to Ridolfi, he painted landscapes in the studio of Tintoretto. De Vos had returned to Antwerp by 1556, joining the city's Guild of Saint Luke two years later. Following the iconoclastic uprisings of 1558 and 1566, he became Antwerp's most sought-after painter and was employed to replace destroyed paintings in the city's cathedral and smaller churches. He also produced numerous paintings for private collectors.

Zweite dates this painting to around 1570, noting formal parallels with other of de Vos's works from around this time: the Marriage of Adam and Eve, The Expulsion from Paradise (Schlosskapelle, Celle; op. cit., figs. 43-4), and the Last Judgment of c. 1565-8 (Norrsunda, Sweden; op. cit., fig. 15).