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The Creation of Eve   1822
pen and watercolour over pencil (NGV 2)
Felton Bequest, 1920
1024-3
National Gallery of Victoria

Paradise Lost VII, 452-77. Adam recalls the creation of Eve out of his side: 'Mine eyes he closed, but open left the cell / Of fancy, my internal sight'. The Creator is shown, as in Milton's text, as Christ rather than God the Father. Blake, taking his cue from the fact that the scene is described by Adam from memory, shows it in a much more ethereal manner than Milton who described the event in great physical detail. Blake made one drawing and three watercolour versions of this subject, the earliest dating from 1807. This watercolour is his final version.

(c)1999 National Gallery of Victoria