And All Was For An Appil, An early Seventeenth Century Canvaswork Picture

AND ALL WAS FOR AN APPIL

A derivative 17th-century canvas work picture

The Adam and Eve legend was a more popular theme on samplers after the early eighteenth century so this example is quite unusual.  The pair are not often seen on earlier needleworks, even though most illustrated bibles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries concentrated their illustrations on Old Testament stories.  Standing naked, one supposes they were not as interesting to draw as biblical heroes and heroines in fancy dress performing heroic and moralistic deeds.  This canvaswork (cross-stitched) picture adapted from a primitive early seventeenth-century gros point pieve shows a guilty, shell-shocked pair in their newly profaned garden.  The focus here appears to be on the crime itself rather than on the earthly paradise found in the Garden of Eden.  Eve tentatively reaches out to the wickedly gleeful serpent with a distorted apple. Apocryphal tales suggest the apple was really a quince, which might explain the ruddy elongated fruits in the tree. Adam lends a hand, signifying his shared culpability.  Over and undersized birds, insects, and animals stand around them, drawing the focus to the ignorant human loss of innocence.  Even the fearsome sun and groggy moon under heavy, roiling cloud masses convey the dissonance of the scene.

The piece is worked almost entirely in cross stitch/gros point, with the verse executed in counted satin stitch.

On 35-count linen, the finished picture will measure approximately 17″ x 13-1/2″.  The project is recommended for any needlework skill level.