Gordon Plumb

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From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
To: MEDIEVAL-RELIGION <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sat, Dec 24, 2016 10:22 pm
Subject: [M-R] FEAST - Saints for the Day (December 24): The Holy Forefathers

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

In the Roman Martyrology today (24. December), the Vigil of the Nativity, is the day of commemoration of: "All the holy ancestors of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, son of Adam, that is, the Fathers who were pleasing unto God, who were found just and who died according to the faith, and from whom Christ was born according to the flesh..."

That's my translation of the bulk of the first elogium for today in the Roman Martyrology (rev. ed., 2001), where previously one found an entry for the Vigil of the Nativity. Some might think that this elogium's use of exclusively masculine-gendered terminology to refer to those from whom Christ was born according to the flesh signals either an unusually weak grasp of human reproductive biology or else a studied relegation of women to a position of inferiority. Perhaps to counter such impressions, Roman Catholic dioceses in Italy and elsewhere follow tradition in calling this feast a Memorial of Saints Adam and Eve and of all the holy ancestors of Jesus Christ ("Santi Adamo e Eva e tutti i santi antenati di Gesù Cristo"), sometimes shortened on diocesan websites to just "Adamo e Eva" (vel sim.). Some Orthodox churches celebrate Jesus' forefathers on the second Sunday before the Nativity; the Italo-Albanian church (which is Byzantine-Rite in its liturgy) celebrates them on the Sunday immediately preceding the Nativity.

In honor of our _primi parentes_, herewith some period-pertinent images of the holy forefather Adam and and the holy foremother Eve:

a) as portrayed in relief on three of the relatively numerous surviving fifth- through seventh-century terracotta tiles from churches in North Africa:
1) in the Krannert Art Museum in the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:
http://kam.illinois.edu/collection/ancient/AdamEve.html
2) in the Musée archéologique de Sousse:
http://tinyurl.com/h3lzlda
3) in the Musée nationale du Bardo in Tunis:
http://tinyurl.com/zgvt3w6
http://tinyurl.com/jjtqbcj

b) as portrayed in relief on a sixth-century molded brick tile, formerly at the église Saint-Martin in Vertou (Loire-Atlantique) and now in the Musée départemental Dobrée in Nantes:
https://grand-patrimoine.loire-atlantique.fr/jcms/collections/online-databases/chosen-works/department/archeologie-regionale/brique-avec-une-representation-dadam-et-eve-en-eja_100354

c) as depicted (scenes) in the earlier ninth-century Moutier-Grandval Bible produced at the abbey of St. Martin at Tours (London, British Library, MS Add. 10546, fol. 5v):
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=add_ms_10546_f005v

d) as portrayed in an early tenth-century relief on the north facade of the church of the Holy Cross on Akdamar (Aghtamar, Akhtamar) Island in Lake Van (Van province) in eastern Anatolia:
http://rusrep.ru/images/upload/261562_photo.jpeg
http://tinyurl.com/gscddot

e) as depicted in the mid-tenth-century Escorial Beatus (ca. 950-955; San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Biblioteca del Real Monasterio, Cod. & II. 5, fol. 18r):
http://tinyurl.com/2tjumn

f) as portrayed in relief on two ivory panels from a tenth- or eleventh-century Byzantine casket in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York:
1) after the Fall, harvesting grain:
http://tinyurl.com/79al4z3
2) after the Fall, making a ceramic vessel:
http://tinyurl.com/7lp43eu

g) as portrayed in relief on two bronze plaques on the early eleventh-century Bernwardstür (Bernward's Door; ca. 1015) of the Dom St. Mariä Himmelfahrt in Hildesheim:
1) in shame after the Fall:
http://tinyurl.com/cp3lwas
2) the Expulsion:
http://tinyurl.com/cnj8r64

h) as depicted (at right; at the Anastasis) in the earlier eleventh-century mosaics (restored between 1953 and 1962) in the narthex of the church of the Theotokos in the monastery of Hosios Loukas near Distomo near Phokis:
http://tinyurl.com/zek42jx
http://tinyurl.com/y8wg4a3

i) as depicted (at right; at the Anastasis) in the mid-eleventh-century mosaics in the katholikon of the Nea Moni on Chios:
http://www.cometosea.us/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/DSC_0033.jpg

j) as depicted (at right, in the Harrowing of Hell) in the mid-eleventh-century Winchester Psalter (London, British Library, Cotton MS Nero C IV, fol. 24r):
http://tinyurl.com/yzbj5wk

k) as depicted (scenes) in the later eleventh-century Bible of Sant Pere de Roda (Paris, BnF, ms. Latin 6 (1), fol. 6r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b85388026/f19.item.zoom

l) as portrayed in relief (scenes) on an eleventh- or twelfth-century ivory-on-wood casket in the Cleveland Museum of Art:
http://www.clevelandart.org/art/1924.747

m) as portrayed on a late eleventh- or very early twelfth-century capital in the interior of the apse of the upper church of the iglesia de San Pedro in Loarre:
http://www.castillodeloarre.org/Loarre/SPedro%20G%2023.jpg
http://www.castillodeloarre.org/Loarre/CapitelesTorales01.jpg

n) as portrayed in relief (scenes) on a restored late eleventh- or early twelfth-century capital in the choir of the abbatiale of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Loiret), a.k.a. Fleury:
http://tinyurl.com/2jamqe
http://www.art-roman.net/stbenoit/stbenoit62x.jpg

o) as portrayed in relief (scenes) by Wiligelmus in very late eleventh- or early twelfth-century panels (1099-1106) on facade of the basilica cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta in Modena:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23885476@N00/180823556/lightbox/
http://tinyurl.com/jx6lo9o
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23885476@N00/180823558/lightbox/
http://www.wga.hu/art/w/wiligelm/modena4.jpg
Detail views:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8093/8421499444_9a0d0aed9d_b.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/jmws53q
http://tinyurl.com/cmq5k68

p) as depicted in an early twelfth-century fresco from the iglesia de la Vera Cruz in Maderuelo (Segovia), now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid:
http://www.romanicoaragones.com/MAN/MPrado%20G01.jpg
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/hbumwad

q) as depicted (at left; at the Anastasis) in an earlier twelfth-century mosaic (ca. 1101-1150) in Venice's basilica cattedrale patriarcale di San Marco:
http://images.icon-art.info/main/02400-02499/02455_hires.jpg

r) as depicted in the probably earlier twelfth-century mosaic floor of the presbytery of the cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta in Novara:
http://www.800novarese.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Mosaico-Duomo.jpg
http://archeocarta.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/03-NOVARA-mosaicopresbit.jpg

s) Eve as portrayed in relief in an earlier twelfth-century lintel fragment (ca. 1125), attributed to Gislebertus, from the north portal of the cathédrale Saint-Lazare in Autun and now in the adjacent Musée Rolin:
http://tinyurl.com/jnwwtyv

t) as portrayed in relief (scenes) by master Nicolaus on a jamb of the earlier twelfth-century west portal (1139) of Verona's cattedrale di Santa Maria Matricolare:
http://france-romane.com/PHOTOS/photos_etranger/Verone/Verone_St-Zeno-208.jpg
http://france-romane.com/PHOTOS/photos_etranger/Verone/Verone_St-Zeno-207.jpg
https://farm1.static.flickr.com/490/19551598576_809c6db2c3_b.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/z5h2rt5
Detail view (the Creation of Eve):
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3800/18955204594_ffff085e2a_b.jpg
Detail view (the Fall):
https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3834/19551547386_ccaa171650_b.jpg

u) as portrayed in relief on an earlier twelfth-century capital (ca. 1140) in the crypt of the basilica di San Zeno (San Zeno Maggiore) in Verona:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/smbtravels/5084878549/lightbox/
http://www.thais.it/scultura/image/ALTE/SR033.htm

v) as portrayed in relief on the later twelfth-century frieze of the cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Castor in Nîmes:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wm_archiv/3317121680/lightbox/
Detail view:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomas46/5232569411/lightbox/

w) as twice depicted in the later twelfth-century mosaic floor (1163-1165) in the cattedrale della Santissima Assunta in Otranto:
1) portraits:
http://tinyurl.com/gp5j5ej
https://theheartthrills.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/otranto-mosaic-3-adam-eve-snake.jpg
2) the Expulsion:
http://tinyurl.com/z49rapa

x) as depicted in the later twelfth-century vault frescoes (ca. 1166-1200) in the apse of the iglesia de los Santos Justo y Pastor in Segovia:
http://www.arquivoltas.com/26-segovia/SanJustoyP%20G110.jpg
Detail view:
http://www.arquivoltas.com/26-segovia/SanJustoyP%20g111.jpg

y) as depicted in the later twelfth-century mosaic floor in the presbytery of the cattedrale di San Nicola Pellegrino in Trani:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/3019248888/
http://tinyurl.com/h2qxrsv

z) as depicted (the Creation of Eve) by Rufillus of Weissenau in a later twelfth-century copy of St. Ambrose's _Hexaemeron_ (ca. 1176-1200; Amiens, Bibliothèques d'Amiens Métropole, ms. Lescalopier 30, fol. 10v):
http://discardingimages.tumblr.com/image/28143305684

aa) as depicted (fought over by an angel and a devil) in a late twelfth-century fresco in the choir of the église Saint-Martin in Nohant-Vic (Indre):
http://tinyurl.com/o9gky83

bb) as depicted in the late twelfth-century mosaics (ca. 1182) of the basilica cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuova in Monreale:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/snappa2006/8154274933/
1) Adam enters Paradise:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/75827322@N00/8675069174
2) at the Tree:
http://tinyurl.com/pr7absd
3) after the Fall:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mymuk/6788335241/
4) after the Expulsion (Eve spinning, Adam delving):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/snappa2006/8154282051

cc) as thrice portrayed in relief on a late twelfth-century capital in the cloister of the basilica cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuova in Monreale:
1) the Fall:
http://tinyurl.com/zlb8d86
http://tinyurl.com/zlj5lyx
https://www.flickr.com/photos/snappa2006/8154409505/
2) the Expulsion:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/snappa2006/8154388297/
3) after the Expulsion (Eve pensive, Adam delving):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/snappa2006/8154389045/

dd) as portrayed in relief (lower register: scenes; upper register: Journey of the Magi) by Bonanno Pisano in a panel of his late twelfth-century bronze door (?later 1180s; the porta San Ranieri) for Pisa's cattedrale metropolitana primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta, now kept in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo there:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2912/14384088774_5a88811cc9_b.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/z6y8oko

ee) as depicted at the foot of the Tree of Jesse on the seemingly late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century ceiling (ca. 1190-1220; _aliter_, ca. 1230) of the St. Michaeliskirche in Hildesheim:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/28433765@N07/3922801651/

ff) as portrayed in a thirteenth-century relief attributed to Sarolus of Muro Lucano on the south wall of the cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta in Rapolla:
http://www.basileusonline.it/images/viandante/rapolla/ra1_09a.jpg

gg) as portrayed in an earlier thirteenth-century breviary from Seckau Abbey (ca. 1200-1250; Graz, Universitätsbibliothek, cod. 287, fol. 9r):
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7009636.JPG

hh) as portrayed in relief (scenes; betw. 1220 and 1236) on the trumeau of the south portal of the west front of the cathédrale Notre-Dame in Amiens:
1) Adam led into the Garden:
http://tinyurl.com/jb5j458
2) the Creation of Eve:
http://tinyurl.com/cjqh6g3
3) the Commandment:
http://tinyurl.com/bv76hha
4) the Fall:
http://tinyurl.com/cvohnow
5) after the Fall (Eve spinning, Adam delving):
http://tinyurl.com/d8q9x65
6) the Expulsion:
http://tinyurl.com/cgw9nsb

ii) as depicted in two scenes from a larger earlier thirteenth-century mosaic cycle (ca. 1220-1240) in the Genesis cupola of the basilica cattedrale patriarcale di San Marco in Venice:
1) Adam Naming the Beasts:
http://tinyurl.com/24rclvm
2) the Creation of Eve:
http://tinyurl.com/d2r4sm3

jj) as depicted in the earlier thirteenth century Psalter of St. Louis and Blanche of Castile (ca. 1225; Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 1186, fols. 10r, 11v, 12r):
1) the Creation of Eve:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7100723j/f27.item.zoom
2) the Commandment; the Fall:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7100723j/f30.item.zoom
3) the Expulsion; Eve spinning and Adam delving:
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b7100723j/f31.item.zoom

kk) as portrayed in a pair of statues (1240) by magister Raduanus flanking the main portal of the katedrala Sv. Lovre in Trogir:
1) Adam:
http://tinyurl.com/38tfk7r
2) Eve:
http://tinyurl.com/35ph5uo

ll) as depicted (at right in the scene of the Anastasis) in the late thirteenth- or very early fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1290-1305) attributed to Manuel Panselinos in the Protaton church on Mount Athos:
http://tinyurl.com/jt59fz8

mm) as depicted (the Expulsion) in the first volume of an earlier fourteenth-century copy of Guiard des Moulins' _Bible historiale_ (ca. 1300-1325; London, BL, MS Douce 211, fol. 6v):
http://tinyurl.com/gsfsrb8

nn) as portrayed in relief (scenes) in the early fourteenth-century reliefs (betw. 1308 and 1330) by Lorenzo Maitani and assistants on one of the facade piers of the cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta in Orvieto:
1) two registers (Creation through Fall):
http://tinyurl.com/juurcnq
2) one register (Expulsion; Labor: Adam delving, Eve spinning):
http://tinyurl.com/jdort3k
3) Detail view (the Creation of Eve):
http://tinyurl.com/jexpd5r
4) Detail view (the Fall):
http://tinyurl.com/hffajha

oo) as depicted among the Forefathers (Eve at left, Adam at center) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the early fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1313 and 1320) of the King's Church (dedicated to Sts. Joachim and Anne) in the Studenica monastery near Kraljevo (Raška dist.) in Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/cbpvljc

pp) as depicted (at the Anastasis) in an early fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1315 and 1321) in the apse of the parecclesion of the Chora Church (Kariye Camii; now a secular museum) in Istanbul:
http://tinyurl.com/yeojlvs

qq) as depicted (at the Anastasis) in an earlier fourteenth-century pictorial menologion from Thessaloniki (betw. 1322 and 1340; Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Gr. th. f. 1, fol. 4v):
http://image.ox.ac.uk/images/bodleian/msgrthf1/4v.jpg

rr) as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1335 and 1350) in the narthex of the church of the Holy Ascension in the Visoki Dečani monastery near Peć in, depending upon one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/7kt4yjq
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/7y6bocd

ss) as portrayed in relief on a mid-fourteenth-century roof boss in the Lady Chapel of Ely Cathedral:
http://www.ipernity.com/doc/stiffleaf/16515373/in/keyword/123201/self

tt) as portrayed in relief in mid- or slightly later fourteenth-century sculptures (after 1354) in the archivolts and tympanum of the north portal of the Münster in Freiburg im Breisgau:
http://tinyurl.com/cknvwnm
http://tinyurl.com/hfxtgqx
Detail view (the creation of Eve):
http://www.virtuelles-freiburg.de/img/Tourbilder/Eva2.jpg
Detail view (Adam delving and Eve spinning):
http://ais.badische-zeitung.de/piece/04/2d/50/59/70078553.jpg

uu) as depicted (the Expulsion) in a later fourteenth-century window panel (ca. 1360) in the Wallfahrtskirche Maria Strassenengel in Judendorf-Strassenengel (Land Steiermark):
http://www.burgenseite.com/glas/strassengel_glas_1.jpg

vv) as depicted in a later fourteenth-century fresco (betw. 1375 and 1400) in Vester Broby kirke in Sorø kommune (Sjælland):
http://tinyurl.com/c7tqude

ww) as twice depicted in the late fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century frescoes on an arch soffit in the rupestrian chiesa di Santa Croce ai Lagnoni in Andria (BT) in Apulia:
http://andriarte.it/SantaCroce/immagini/transettosx-Peccatoriginale_creazioneEva-CD.jpg
1) Detail view (the Creation of Eve):
http://andriarte.it/SantaCroce/immagini/transettosx-creazione_Eva-CD.jpg
2) Detail view (the Fall):
http://andriarte.it/SantaCroce/immagini/transettosx-peccato_originale-CD.jpg

xx) as depicted (Adam delving and Eve spinning) in a fifteenth-century fresco in the Church of All Saints in Broughton (Cambs):
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7665/17097217942_82665b2e4b_b.jpg

yy) as twice depicted in an early fifteenth-century copy of St. Augustine's _De civitate Dei_ in its French-language version by Raoul de Presles (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 21, fols. 40v, 29r):
1) the marriage of Adam and Eve:
http://tinyurl.com/yzv7t4g
2) the Fall:
http://tinyurl.com/yfmqo8a

zz) as depicted (at right in the Harrowing of Hell) in an early fifteenth-century copy of the _Histoire du Saint Graal_ (ca. 1405; Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 3479, fol. 109r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b55001677b/f115.item.zoom

aaa) as portrayed (the Creation of Eve) in an earlier fifteenth-century terracotta relief (1407; attributed to Donatello) in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence:
http://www.umilta.net/donatadameve1.jpg

bbb) as depicted by the Master of Luçon in an early fifteenth-century copy of Boccaccio's _De casibus virorum illustrium_ in its French-language translation by Laurent de Premierfait (ca. 1410; Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève, Ms. fr. 190/1, fol. 7v):
http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/bge/fr0190-1/7v

ccc) as depicted by the Boucicaut Master in an early fifteenth-century copy of Boccaccio's _De casibus virorum illustrium_ in its French-language translation by Laurent de Premierfait (ca. 1413-1415; Los Angeles and Malibu, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 63, fol. 3r):
http://tinyurl.com/haeao4o

ddd) as depicted (the Expulsion) in an earlier fifteenth-century fresco (ca. 1427) by Masaccio in the Brancacci chapel of the chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence:
before restoration:
http://tinyurl.com/2keku7
after restoration:
http://tinyurl.com/2srr9x

eee) as depicted (upper register at far left and at far right) by Jan van Eyck on opened wings of his earlier fifteenth-century altarpiece of Ghent (1432) in the cathedral of St. Baaf / Bavo in Gand / G(h)ent:
http://tinyurl.com/j7yevyu

fff) as depicted (Eve spinning and Adam delving) in a later fifteenth-century fresco (betw. ca. 1460 and ca. 1480) in Dråby kirke in Over Dråby, Roskilde kommune (Sjælland):
http://tinyurl.com/czsjgzk

ggg) as depicted by Willem Vrelant in the later fifteenth-century Hours of Leonor de la Vega (ca. 1465-1470; Madrid, BNE, Cód. Vitr. 24-2, fol.27r):
http://tinyurl.com/h7q3j2t
http://tinyurl.com/h3lyvo6

hhh) as portrayed in relief on the late fifteenth-century jubé (betw. 1480 and 1492) of the chapelle Saint-Fiacre in Le Faouët (Morbihan):
http://img.over-blog-kiwi.com/1/40/19/56/20160205/ob_19fe1d_l1070688cc.JPG

iii) as depicted in a panel of an early sixteenth-century window (south II, panel 1c; ca. 1510-1515) in the chancel of the Church of St. Mary in Fairford (Glos):
http://cvma2.cch.kcl.ac.uk/iip/iipsrv.fcgi?FIF=001231.jp2&WID=1024&CVT=JPG

jjj) as depicted in relief in an early sixteenth-century glazed terracotta sculpture (1515; by the workshop of Giovanni della Robbia) in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore:
http://art.thewalters.org/detail/35961
http://www.socialhistoryofart.com/photos/16th-Italy/RobbiaAdamEveWaltersSitu.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/gq6fmf3

Best wishes to all in this holiday season,
John Dillon

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