This depiction of the traditional subject of the "Fall of Man" in the Garden of Eden is extremely unusual because there is no serpent represented. Eve is represented as particularly sensuous and aggressive in offering the fruit to Adam, who does not take the fruit but who gestures in a way that indicated that he is arguing with Eve. Some theologians insisted that Eve was much more to blame than Adam; this painting responds to that line of thinking.
Pietro Mera, to whom the painting has now been attributed, was one of the many Flemish painters working in Venice and surrounding art centers around 1600. Their sensitivity to landscape was greatly appreciated. The lushness of the landscape here reflects the tastes of his homeland.
<bdi><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18508616" class="extiw" title="d:Q18508616"><span title="Italian artist, approximately 1570-1611">Pietro Mera</span></a>
</bdi>
between 1600 and 1610 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1650-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1600-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1610-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Renaissance" class="extiw" title="w:en:Renaissance"><span title="cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century">Renaissance</span></a><div style="display: none;">era QS:P2348,Q4692</div>)
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