Adam and Eve, Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California, Cyanotype #2 Print

Adam and Eve Ante Peccatum "Before the Fall" marble statue at the Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts, Saratoga, California. Composition #2 Cyanotype #2. This formal study has a fantastic range of tones from deep black, nice mid-tone grays to soft shades of white and is exceptionally sharp. This dramatic image was taken on a slightly foggy late summer morning with lovely soft light. Villa Montalvo The Villa Montalvo is a historic landmark built in 1912 by James Duval Phelan. Phelan, a passionate Californian who had been a three-term progressive mayor of San Francisco, went on to become California's first popularly elected U.S. Senator. Villa Montalvo was Senator Phelan's favorite home and a center of artistic, political and social life in Northern California. Phelan invited leading writers and artists to Villa Montalvo to work on individual artistic projects in an environment rich in dialogue and fellowship. Jack London, Ethel Barrymore, Mary Pickford, Douglass Fairbanks, and Edwin Markham were among Phelan's many guests. While in Italy, Phelan also purchased sculptures to be incorporated into the Italianate Garden. One fine example of these, a marble statue of Adam and Eve entitled Ante Peccatum or “Before the Fall”, remains in the garden to this day.