The Creation of Eve and Renaissance Naturalism : Visual Theology and Artistic Invention

"Depicting the Creation of Woman presented a special problem for Renaissance artists. The medieval iconography of Eve rising half-formed from Adam's side was hardly compatible with their commitment to the naturalistic representation of the human figure. At the same time, the story of God constructing the first woman from a rib did not offer the kind of dignified, affective pictorial narrative that artists, patrons, and the public prized. Jack M. Greenstein takes this artistic problem as the point of departure for an iconographic study of this central theme of Christian culture. His book shows how the meaning changed along with the form when Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea Pisano, and other Italian sculptors of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries revised the traditional composition to accommodate a naturalistically depicted Eve. At stake, Greenstein argues, is the role of the artist and the power of image-making in reshaping Renaissance culture and religious thought"-- Provided by publisher Cover 1 Half-title 2 Title page 4 Copyright information 5 Dedication 6 Table of contents 8 List of illustrations with photograph credits 10 Acknowledgments 16 Introduction 20 Rethinking iconography 20 Chapter One ‘‘In the beginning’’: Genesis cycles and the iconographies of the Creation of Eve 31 Augustine on the literal meaning of Genesis 36 San Paolo fuori le mura and the tradition of Old St. Peter’s 41 Bede 45 San Marco, Venice 47 The iconography of the story of the rib 48 The emergence iconography 52 Chapter Two The rib and the side: Synthetic artistry at Orvieto Cathedral 60 The ‘‘universal capomaestro’’ 67 The order and iconography of the Genesis cycle 71 Amending San Marco: the Trinity Creator 78 The gestures of the Creator 80 The making of man 83 The creation of Eve 95 Chapter Three The body of Eve in Andrea Pisano’s Creation relief for the Campanile of Florence Cathedral 103 The naturalistic style of the Creation of Eve 106 An illusion of gravity 109 On weight as an artistic device 114 The creation of Eve, body, and soul 118 Sexual differentiation in the two Creation reliefs 122 The one other sagging Eve 125 Chapter Four A visual invention: the angels at Eve’s side in Lorenzo Ghiberti’s Genesis panel 129 The ministry of angels at the Creation of Eve 133 The flesh and bone of Adam’s rib 137 Ghiberti’s invention 143 Chapter Five Jacopo della Quercia’s Creation of Eve and the dignity of woman 166 Quercia’s composition 170 The narrative invention 174 The dignity of man 176 The upright stance 178 The dignity of Quercia’s Eve 182 Eve’s raised hand 187 Quercia’s legacy 193 Conclusion: Artistic practice and iconographic invention 202 Notes 208 Introduction 208 Chapter 1 210 Chapter 2 219 Chapter 3 227 Chapter 4 233 Chapter 5 237 Conclusion 245 Bibliography 246 Iconographic Index 268 Subject Index 272 Color plates 146 This book traces how four early Renaissance masters represented the Creation of Eve, which showed woman rising weightlessly from Adam's side at God's command.