Eve Tempted

Copied Hiram Powers, Eve Tempted, modeled 1842, plaster, 70 1⁄4 x 22 1⁄8 x 21 1⁄2 in. (178.4 x 56.2 x 54.6 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson, 1968.155.7
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
Eve Tempted
Artist
Date
modeled 1842
Location
Dimensions
70 1⁄4 x 22 1⁄8 x 21 1⁄2 in. (178.4 x 56.2 x 54.6 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase in memory of Ralph Cross Johnson
Mediums
Mediums Description
plaster
Classifications
Subjects
  • Animal — reptile — snake
  • Religion — Old Testament — Genesis
  • Religion — Old Testament — Eve
  • State of being — evil — temptation
  • Study — sculpture model
Object Number
1968.155.7
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1968.155.7

Artwork Description

Eve Tempted was Hiram Powers’s first full-length ideal statue. It shows Eve contemplating an apple in her hand while a serpent lingers at her side. American audiences in the nineteenth century felt that statues and paintings of nude figures were scandalous, but Powers maintained that “clothing would be preposterous, for [Eve] was naked only after she had fallen.” Her pensive expression anticipates the consequences of her actions, which the artist described in his later piece, Eve Disconsolate.