The piece of art is by Jan Brueghel the Elder,created in 1615. Jan Brueghel the Elder was a Flemish painter who lived from 1568-1625. This piece of art is typical Northern Renaissance style, very religious and painted in oil. It also is a Northern Renaissance painting because it shows nature and animals in typical classical style imitated by the Renaissance artists. This painting is a representation of the Garden of Eden, a standard religious theme done by many painters of the time. One of the Northern Renaissance's major ideas was northern humanism. While still similar to Italian humanism, northern humanism was aimed at reforming human spirituality,education, and make Christians better members of society. This painting then, could be seen as playing a role in northern humanism, because it could be used as sort of propaganda towards Christians, emphasizing standard humanist ideas of paradise; a plethora of wild animals frolicking amongst each other, and two realistic naked people in a playful pose. The animals represent the humanist love of nature and animals. The two people, Adam and Eve, are a tribute to Greek and Roman art, with natural looking humans in contrapostos, people with arms outstretched standing on the balls of their feet.
