The exhibition of European art is located on the second floor in the east wing of the building. The display is arranged in order of subject matter and chronology and the paintings are complemented by selected examples of sculpture and furniture placed along the corridors together with other works of artistic craftsmanship. Eve, or rather the top half of her, is shown standing naked under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, where the grey coiling snake placed above to the right symbolizes Satan the Seducer.
In fact the painting constitutes only a part of a much larger composition. The original picture featured the entire figures of both Eve and Adam, however in the early 17th century the two fragments showing their torsos were cut out and completely repainted to become a pair of bourgeois portraits. It was only when the pictures arrived in the museum collection and were the subject of the thorough conservation procedures that the discovery was made of the existence of original paintwork hidden underneath the later additions.
After the top layers were removed in — , the restorers finally saw Eve and, in the other picture, Adam. This example only confirms that the fate of works of art may often be full of surprises.
The artist was a leading exponent of Florentine Mannerism, who usually worked at the court of the Medici, painting mostly portraits as well as works on religious and mythological subjects.
The centre of this fairly large canvas features Mary reading while she supports little Jesus with her right hand. In the bottom right side of the picture the painter placed St John, later on referred to as the Baptist. The image of Mary and the Child accompanied by St John was fairly widespread in the art of Italian Renaissance, for example in the paintings by Rafael Santi.
