Eve, Eve with Snake

In Lucas Cranach The Elder’s painting, Eve is represented as a temptress archetype. Her wild hair, her sly, averted gaze, and her affiliation with the conniving snake echo the biblical warning: don’t trust women. Over the centuries, representations of women with snakes have become less didactic and more seductive. A stock photo search for ‘Eve’ produced cringey images of sexy white women in varying states of ecstasy, covering the details of their nudity with a large snake.