Adam 1485 - 1500

Tullio Lombardo crafted this marble sculpture of Adam in Venice during the late 15th or early 16th century, a period when the city was a hub of Renaissance art and humanist thought. Lombardo presents Adam, the first man according to Abrahamic religions, as a figure of classical beauty: athletic, serene, and nude. This idealization reflects the Renaissance fascination with classical antiquity, yet it also reveals a particular construction of masculinity that emphasizes strength and rationality. The sculpture originally stood in the tomb of Andrea Vendramin, a doge of Venice. By depicting Adam nude, Lombardo not only drew from the classical tradition, but also subtly alluded to the Christian concept of innocence before the Fall. This visual representation, however, raises questions about the politics of representation: Who gets to embody these ideals, and how are notions of beauty and perfection linked to power and status? Although Adam is holding the apple, and therefore, the cause of the fall from grace, Lombardo invites us to consider the complexities of human nature, with its capacity for both beauty and transgression.