# The Garden of Eden \(detail\) [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [UNKNOWN MASTER, German]() - Date: 1401-1450 - Technique: Tempera on wood ## Commentary The Garden of Eden \(detail\) c. 1410 Tempera on wood Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt Mary appears in her usual colours, blue and red. Her attributes are illustrated by the flowers richly carpeting the foreground \(lilies and lilies of the valley = purity; rose = illumination; violets = modesty and humility\) . These flowers, which were also used for medicinal purposes, frequently became connected with the person of the Madonna. In a fourteenth-century poem from the Netherlands, surviving in manuscript form, twelve different flowers refer to Mary, eight of which can be found in this painting. ## Related artworks - [12 scenes from the Life of Christ]() - [A Bath-House]() - [A carpenter at work]() - [A Knight of the Rehlinger Family]() - [A Lady]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Magi]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Altarpiece of the Seven Joys of Mary]() - [Altarpiece of the Seven Joys of Mary]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()