Lot 130: The Fall of Man

Circle of Jacob de Backer (Antwerp c. 1540/5- c. 1595)
The Fall of Man
inscribed 'ILLUSUS BLANDO DIRI SERMONE COLVBRIS HVMANU PRMVS PERDIS ADAME GENVS.' (lower edge)
oil on panel
106.8 x 73.8 cm.

Baron von Silivini, until circa 1948, as Cornelis van Haarlem.

Christie’s charges a premium to the buyer on the Hammer Price of each lot sold at the following rates: 29.75% of the Hammer Price of each lot up to and including €5,000, plus 23.8% of the Hammer Price between €5,001 and €400,000, plus 14.28% of any amount in excess of €400,000. Buyer’s premium is calculated on the basis of each lot individually.
The composition is partly based on an engraving by Agostino Carracci (see D. DeGrazia Bohlin, Prints and related drawings by the Carracci family: A Catalogue Raisonné, Washington, 1979, pp. 110-1, no. 25).
However, the appearance of the skeleton comes from the Northern iconographic tradition, and can be found in prints by artists such as Hans Sebald Beham.