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Cain killing Abel
Adriaen de Vries (Dutch, 1556–1626)
1622
- Medium
- Gilded bronze
- Classification
- Group of statuettes
- Dimensions
- height 70 cm, width 21 cm
- Culture
- Dutch
- Museum
- SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark: SMK waives its rights in this photograph, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Adult profiles and older: its museum's description or title mentions violence, death or gore. How works are placed
View at the SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
About this work
The statuettes Lazarus and Cain Slaying Abel can be viewed equally well from all sides because the figures are twisting - or serpentining - around their own axes. Such serpentinata is a typical feature of Mannerism, a courtly style that de Vries appropriated while studying under the sculptor Giambologna in Florence as a young man. In Denmark, King Christian IV had a penchant for the sophisticated and distinctive Mannerist style. On Danish soil Adrian de Vries is best known for the Neptune Fountain (1615-18), which was commissioned by Christian IV for Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød. Like the fountain, Lazarus and Cain Slaying Abel were created in de Vries’ old age. Perhaps de Vries even gave Christian IV the statuettes in connection with the commissioning and payment of the Neptune Fountain.
