medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Today (24. December), the Vigil of the Nativity, is the feast day 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 new RM (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.).
With that in mind, herewith some late antique and medieval images of Adam and Eve:
Paintings in Roman catacombs:
http://tinyurl.com/9yjhrn
http://tinyurl.com/8ufczd
http://tinyurl.com/yhpnke
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (fourth-century), A. and E. second from left, lower register:
http://tinyurl.com/yaahak
Detail:
http://tinyurl.com/yb7ygx
Sarcophagus of Lot (fourth-century), detail:
http://www.aug.edu/augusta/iconography/catacombs/adam.html
Molded brick (sixth-century), formerly at the church of Saint-Martin, Vertou (Loire-Atlantique), now in the Musée départemental Dobrée in Nantes:
http://tinyurl.com/2c3nps
Reliefs (early tenth-century), north facade, Church of the Holy Cross, Akdamar Island (Akdamar Adasi), Lake Van (Eastern Anatolia):
http://tinyurl.com/3ymmxd
http://tinyurl.com/yq7xut
There's an illustrated, English-language account of this structure here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akdamar_Island
Relief, Muiredach('s) Cross (tenth-century), St. Buithín’s Monastery, Monasterboice (Co. Louth):
Lowest panel above the base (A. and E. at left, followed by Cain and Abel):
http://tinyurl.com/8fpgam
Detail:
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/muiredach/eastfallabel.jpg
Manuscript illumination, Escorial Beatus (ca. 950-955), San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Biblioteca del Real Monasterio, Cod. & II. 5, fol. 18r:
http://tinyurl.com/2tjumn
Capital relief (tenth-century), San Zeno, Verona:
http://www.thais.it/scultura/sch00449.htm
Ivory panels (Byzantine; tenth- or eleventh-century), now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York:
http://www.metmuseum.org/special/byzantinegalleries/10.L.htm
Plaques (ca. 1015), "Bernward's Door", cathedral of St. Mariä Himmelfahrt, Hildesheim:
http://tinyurl.com/2q72m2
Facade reliefs (Wiligelmus; 1099-1106), Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Modena:
http://www.valsesiascuole.it/crosior/1medioevo/chiesa59.jpg
http://tinyurl.com/ym6y6w
Details:
http://tinyurl.com/yk6co5
http://www.bramarte.it/romanico/img/scu1.jpg
http://www.bramarte.it/romanico/img/scu2.jpg
Capital (ca. 1100), iglesia de San Martín, Frómista (Palencia):
http://www.artehistoria.jcyl.es/artesp/obras/20484.htm
Better view here (about 3/4 of the way down this page; no. 334 in the set):
http://tinyurl.com/2rc2d5
Choir capital (late eleventh- or early twelfth-century; restored), abbatiale de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Loiret), a.k.a. Fleury:
http://tinyurl.com/2jamqe
http://www.art-roman.net/stbenoit/stbenoit62x.jpg
Ambulatory capital (late eleventh- or twelfth-century; most capitals, though, are stationary), abbatiale Saint-Pierre, Airvault (Deux-Sèvres). Several views here (scroll down to "Les chapiteaux du choeur"):
http://tinyurl.com/yuylgo
Vault bosses in the same church (early thirteenth-century):
http://tinyurl.com/ypao3u
Manuscript illumination (late eleventh- or early twelfth-century), illustrated Bible, Genoa, Biblioteca Civica Berio m.r. Cf 3.7, c. 4v:
http://tinyurl.com/28hdab
Fresco (early twelfth-century) from the iglesia de la Vera Cruz, Maderuelo (Segovia), now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid:
http://tinyurl.com/2mjard
detail:
http://www.romanicoaragones.com/MAN/MPrado%20G09.jpg
Doorposts (ca. 1120-1130), chiesa di Sant'Antonino, Piacenza:
http://www.italicon.it/museo/I228-015.htm
Lintel fragment (Gislebertus, ca. 1125) from the north portal, cathedral of Saint-Lazare, Autun, now in the adjacent Musée Rolin:
http://tinyurl.com/2j9eju
Manuscript illumination, St Albans Psalter (earlier twelfth-century), Hildesheim (Dombibliothek, MS St. Godehard I):
http://tinyurl.com/2a7v65
Facade reliefs (Maestro Niccolò; 1138), San Zeno Maggiore, Verona (scroll down to "Creazione di Adamo"; 3 reliefs):
http://www.arte-argomenti.org/saggi/nicolo.html
Capital (twelfth-century), église de Notre-Dame, Chauvigny (Vienne):
http://tinyurl.com/38zc4g
Capitals (twelfth-century), collégiale de Saint-Pierre et Saint-Gaudens, Saint-Gaudens (Haute-Garonne):
http://tinyurl.com/28s53f
Capital reliefs (twelfth-century), Notre-Dame, Aubin (Aveyron):
http://eglise.aubin.chez-alice.fr/EnglishV/Chapitos.htm
Cloister capitals (mid-twelfth-century), monasterio de Santa María de Estíbaliz (Álava):
http://tinyurl.com/2afyan
Mosaic floor (1163-65), Cathedral of the Santissima Assunta, Otranto, details:
http://www.masseriailfrantoio.it/foto/otranto_mosaico.jpg
http://www.torresantostefano.it/FotOtr/pages/Mosaico.htm
Bronze plaque (Bonanno Pisano; 1186), Royal Door, cathedral of Santa Maria Nuova, Monreale:
http://www.thais.it/scultura/image/sch00510.htm
Capital (late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century; school of Benedetto Antelami) from the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Parma, now in the Museo Nazionale di Parma:
http://tinyurl.com/25sdev
Trumeau relief (ca. 1210), west facade, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris:
http://tinyurl.com/28or2u
http://flickr.com/photos/mongorno/2334137061/sizes/o/
http://tinyurl.com/2gnex6
Glass window (ca. 1210), Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Chartres:
http://tinyurl.com/y6x5h7
Manuscript illumination (ca. 1220), Bible (Reims, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 34):
http://tinyurl.com/2ggbqm
http://tinyurl.com/yvy8mu
http://tinyurl.com/2gat8s
mise en page:
http://tinyurl.com/yrenws
Mosaics (ca. 1220-1240), Genesis cupola, basilica di San Marco, Venice:
http://tinyurl.com/2hrx2d
http://tinyurl.com/2crsss
Mosaics (thirteenth-century), ceiling of the baptistery of Florence:
http://tinyurl.com/8a2x39
http://tinyurl.com/7r3t5p
A little context (in this image A. and E. are at left, a little more than halfway up):
http://tinyurl.com/7w3xca
Relief (thirteenth-century; attrib. to Sarolus of Muro Lucano), south wall, Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, Rapolla (PZ), Basilicata:
http://www.basilicata.cc/lucania/rapolla/09chM1/page5.htm
Cupola mosaic (betw. 1270 and 1300), Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence:
http://tinyurl.com/3y2kap
Terracotta reliefs (1334-36; Andrea Pisano), formerly on the belltower of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo:
http://tinyurl.com/2fnnhd
Portal relief (after 1354), Münster, Freiburg im Breisgau:
http://www.virtuelles-freiburg.de/img/Tourbilder/Eva2.jpg
Terracotta relief (attrib. to Donatello, 1407), now in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence:
http://tinyurl.com/2g3fpw
http://www.umilta.net/donatadameve1.jpg
Fresco (Masaccio, ca. 1427), Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence:
Before restoration:
http://tinyurl.com/2keku7
After restoration:
http://tinyurl.com/2srr9x
Panel paintings (Jan van Eyck; 1432), altarpiece, Cathedral of St. Bavo, Gand/Ghent, A. and E. at upper left and right, respectively:
http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/eyck/ghent/ghentopn.jpg
Manuscript illuminations (Guiard des Moulins; fifteenth-century), France (in Paris, BnF, ms. français 3):
http://tinyurl.com/y22x5q
http://tinyurl.com/y5cdw5
More from the same illustrated Bible:
http://collecties.meermanno.nl/handschriften/showmanu?id=100000
Best,
John Dillon
(last year's matter lightly revised)
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|