Eva

Eva is a late Gothic sandstone sculpture by Tilman Riemenschneider, created in Würzburg between 1491 and 1493. You see an idealised young woman standing nearly two metres tall, with wavy hair falling to her hips and an apple in her right hand. A snake rests at her feet, connecting the calm figure to the biblical story of the Fall.

The white-grey sandstone originally stood beside Adam above the portal of Würzburg’s Marienkapelle, a red-and-white church built as a late Gothic civic commission. The pair became Riemenschneider’s first major public commission in the city and helped establish his reputation there. Since 1975, the originals have been preserved in the Museum für Franken at Fortress Marienberg, while copies occupy the portal. Weathering led to restored and replaced parts, including Eva’s right arm, feet, base and snake.

The remaining surfaces are remarkably smooth, with almost no visible tool marks. Her gentle expression, rounded forms and almost floating stance show the late Gothic ideal of beauty, while the apple and serpent keep the sculpture tied to a familiar story.