Detail of The Rebuke of Adam and Eve by Natoire in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2014

The Rebuke of Adam and Eve

Artist:Charles Joseph Natoire (French, Nîmes 1700–1777 Castel Gandolfo)

Date:1740

Medium:Oil on copper

Dimensions:26 3/4 x 19 3/4 in. (67.9 x 50.2 cm)

Classification:Paintings

Credit Line:Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson III, George T. Delacorte Jr., and Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Heinz II Gifts; Victor Wilbour Memorial, Marquand, and The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment Funds; and The Edward Joseph Gallagher III Memorial Collection, Edward J. Gallagher Jr. Bequest, 1987

Accession Number:1987.279

Natoire and François Boucher probably met in the Paris studio of François Le Moyne (1688–1737). Each won the Prix de Rome and studied in Italy. By 1737 both were Professors at the Académie Royale.
This picture must have been intended by Natoire as a tribute to Le Moyne. It was a pendant to a painting by Le Moyne, depicting Adam receiving the forbidden fruit from Eve in the Garden of Eden (private collection). Natoire shared with Le Moyne a predilection for the nude, here depicting with care the rosy and sensual body of the disappointed Eve, a tear glistening on her cheek.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437180