When Rembrandt met an elephant

In Rembrandt’s 1638 etching “Adam and Eve in Paradise,” there are two symbols of good and evil. A dragon hovers over the couple as they contemplate the poison apple, representing the danger of temptation. And in the background, a little, rotund elephant romps in the sunlight, a sign of chastity and grace. The meaning of these symbols, while obscure today, would have been recognisable in 17th-century Europe.

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