Gothic Room: Sampler (Adam and Eve), 2002

Sampler (Adam and Eve), an embroidery combining different sampler patterns on the theme of the Temptation, is installed on a low easel facing a chair. Mrs. Gardner often used table easels, or hung works low, to create intimate situations for viewing works of art. The sampler is placed to the right of a painting of the Temptation whose attribution reads “After Cranach.” This work was copied from one of the numerous depictions of the Temptation that Cranach painted during his lifetime.

Photograph by Yoav Horesh