''Adam'' is an

Italian Renaissance sculpture Italian Renaissance sculpture was an important part of the art of the Italian Renaissance, in the early stages arguably representing the leading edge. The example of Ancient Roman sculpture hung very heavily over it, both in terms of style and t ...

of c.1490–1495, a marble statue by

Tullio Lombardo Tullio Lombardo (c. 1455 – November 17, 1532), also known as Tullio Solari, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor. He was the brother of Antonio Lombardo and son of Pietro Lombardo. The Lombardo family worked together to sculpt famous Catholic ...

, now in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, which bought it in 1936. It is of prime importance as the first lifesize nude marble sculpture since antiquity, though

Donatello Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi ( – 13 December 1466), better known as Donatello ( ), was a Republic of Florence, Florentine sculptor of the Renaissance period. Born in Republic of Florence, Florence, he studied classical sculpture and use ...

's famous bronze ''

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

'' had preceded it by several decades. The sculpture was made as one of several subsidiary figures for the tomb of Doge

Andrea Vendramin Tomb of Andrea Vendramin in Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice Andrea Vendramin (1393 – May 5, 1478, both Venice) served as Doge of Venice, 1476–78, at the height of Venetian power, the only member of the Vendramin family to do so. His mother ...

(d. 1478), which was later reconfigured. Previously it had passed through the

Vendramin The House of Vendramin (, ) was a rich merchant family of Venice, Italy, who were among the ''case nuove'' or "new houses" who joined the patrician class when the ''Libro d'Oro'' was opened after the battle of Chioggia (June 1380). Andrea Ven ...

-Calergi family, remaining in the Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

when the

Duchess of Berry Duke of Berry (french: Duc de Berry) or Duchess of Berry (french: Duchesse de Berry) was a title in the Peerage of France. The Duchy of Berry, centred on Bourges, was originally created as an appanage for junior members of the French royal family ...

bought the palazzo in 1844. She then sold it to Henri Dieudonné d'Artois, comte de Chambord in 1865. It was then recorded as owned by Princess Beatrix de Bourbon-Massimo before being acquired by Henry Pereire sometime after 1921, then passed to his widow and through various auction houses before being acquired by its present owner. On the evening of October 6, 2002 ''Adam'', part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection, crashed to the floor of the Vélez Blanco patio where it was displayed, breaking it into 28 larger pieces and hundreds of small fragments. An investigation into the disaster established this occurred when the wooden pedestal the sculpture was displayed on proved inadequate for the weight of the marble, and gave way. After more than a decade of painstaking restoration ''Adam'' has been on display at the museum since 2014. Museum officials assert that their process for restoring the sculpture helped create a new model for the conservation of large sculptures. Ricardelli, Carolyn et al
"The Treatment of Tullio Lombardo's Adam: A New Approach to the Conservation of Monumental Marble Sculpture"
''Metropolitan Museum Journal'' 49,(2014): 48–116.

References

{{reflist category:1490s sculptures category:Sculptures by Tullio Lombardo category:Sculptures of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Sculptures depicting Hebrew Bible people Nude sculptures in New York (state)