So passed they naked on, nor shund the sight of
God or Angel, for they thought no ill:
So hand in hand they passed, the lovliest pair that ever since
in loves imbraces met,
ADAM the goodliest man of men since borne His Sons,
the fairest of her Daughters EVE.
John Milton
Paradise Lost, 1667
First Human Beings
Mixtec Indians Creation
In this manuscript that predates the
Spanish Conquest, the Mixtec Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico, illustrate
how their gods created the world. According to their cosmology,
the first humans were the Primordial Twins. One Deer, shown
here with magic incense copal and ground tobacco,
created the Mother and the Father of the Gods. Mother and
Father then made four men and an entire constellation of spirits
for crops, fire, smoke, forests, and other aspects of nature
and the world. |
Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus I.
Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1992.
Facsimile.
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (35)
|
Tian-gong Yuan.
"Pangu Kaitian Pidi"
(Pangu Creating the World)
from Tui Bei Quan Tu, 1820
copied by Wu-Yi Chao Xie, circa 1900.
Manuscript.
Chinese Rare Book Collection,
Asian Division (33.1)
|
Pangu Creates the World
According to Chinese mythology, a giant
called Pangu used his own body to create the world. Before
creation, Pangu was like an egg yolk inside an egg. After
eighteen thousand years, the world began to open. The light
air called "Yangqi" flew up and became sky, and the heavy
and wet air called "Yinqi" sank down and became earth. When
Pangu breathed, his breath became wind. When he cried, his
tears became oceans and rivers. After many years, Pangu died,
and his head, body, and limbs turned into five famous mountains
in China. |
Nüwo Creates a Perfect
World
According to Chinese mythology, a giant
called Pangu created the world, but left imperfections. Because
the sky was tilted at the northwest corner, the sun, moon,
and other celestial bodies were not in harmonious order. The
earth was lopsided because Pangu did not fill the southeast
corner, causing the oceans, lakes, and rivers to pour in one
direction. Nüwo, the Goddess of Creation, fixed these
mistakes and then used mud to make men and women. This image
of Nüwo is from a tenth-century stone carving in the
famous cave complex at Dunhuang in Chinese Central Asia. The
work reflects the influence of Indian art, a result of cultural
exchange along the "Silk Road," a trade route linking Japan
with the Mediterranean. |
Nüwo, the Goddess of Creation.
Stone rubbing with color, ca. 900.
From Dunhuang pi hua xuan.
(A Collection of Dunhuang Wall Paintings).
Beijing: 1952.
Chinese Rare Book Collection,
Asian Division
(33.3)
|
Jwok (an androgynous god) had sons--first, an elephant;
then, a buffalo, a lion, a crocodile, after that a little dog;
and finally, man and woman. All this took place in a far country.
The name of the first man was Otino. The name of the first woman
was Akongo.
Sheikh Oterie of Dimma
(a member of the Anuak tribe of Sudan), 1990
Albrecht Dürer.
The Fall of Man (Adam and Eve).
Engraving, 1504.
Gardiner Greene Hubbard Collection,
Prints and Photographs
Division (27)
|
German Renaissance Master
Artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
engraved this image of the biblical first humans whose creation
and fall from God's favor are recounted in Genesis. Dürer's
woodcuts and engravings were at the forefront of the information
revolution that swept through Renaissance Europe, placing
printed texts and images in the hands of an increasingly literate
populace. The iconography here is loaded with meaning, including
the rabbit, cat, ox, and elk symbolizing the four temperaments
of humankind: sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, and melancholic. |
Adam and Eve by Dürer
German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
earned widespread fame during his own time and is one of the
monumental figures in the history of Western printmaking.
From his early twenties until his death at the age of fifty-seven,
Dürer worked on at least six different versions of Christ's
Passion--the story of Christ's suffering between the Last
Supper and the Crucifixion. This image of Adam and Eve being
driven out of Paradise at sword point is from his Small Passion,
which contains thirty-six episodes from the Bible. Despite
its small scale, the dynamic composition of the work gives
it a powerful visual and narrative force. |
Albrecht Dürer.
The Expulsion from Paradise.
Nuremberg?: 1510.
Woodcut.
Prints and Photographs
Division (27.2)
|
Lucas Cranach, the Elder.
Adam and Eve in Paradise,
1509.
Woodcut.
Prints and Photographs
Division (27.1)
|
German Renaissance Image
of Biblical First Humans
Lucas Cranach, the Elder (1472-1553),
created this woodcut image depicting the biblical first humans.
The Reformation and humanist learning were key catalysts in
the information revolution of sixteenth century Germany, and
Cranach himself was a personal friend and advocate of Martin
Luther. |
The Creation of Eve
This book represents the first American
appearance of twenty-five woodcuts designed by the noted English
artist Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1896). Originally commissioned
by William Morris (1834-1896) for an edition of the Bible
he planned to publish, these images capture for the modern
reader the events during the creation of the world as described
in the book of Genesis including the creation of the first
woman, Eve. This work was printed by Daniel Berkeley Updike,
founder of the Merrymount Press, in an edition of only 185
copies. |
Edward Burne-Jones.
"Eve Created from the Rib of Adam."
In the Dawn of the World.
Page 2
Boston: Charles E. Goodspeed, 1903.
Frederic Goudy Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (28)
|
Speculum humane savationis.
Utrecht: Printer of the Speculum,
ca. 1470.
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (28.1)
|
Woodcut Images of Creation
The Speculum humane salvationis
contains illustrations of related scenes from the Old and
New Testament. All the woodcut illustrations are in Dutch
style. Approximately twenty pages of the text were printed
from blocks; the remainder were set in movable type. The difference
immediately strikes the eye, because the texts produced by
woodblock are the traditional sepia and those printed from
movable type are black. This traditional block book was printed
using only one side of the paper. |
Adam and Eve from Story
of Salvation
These hand-colored drawings illustrate
the Biblical account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
In the middle ages, Speculum Humanae Salvationis
(Mirror of human salvation), written anonymously around 1300,
was a common religious book. Several hundred copies exist
in the form of manuscripts, blockbooks, and early printed
books, such as this one. The work is an illustrated Bible
that links related episodes from the Old and New Testaments
to show the Christian history of human salvation, with a focus
on the roles played by Christ and the Virgin Mary. |
Speculum Humanae Salvationis.
(Mirror of human salvation).
Augsburg: Peter Berger, 1489.
Rosenwald Collection.
Rare Book and Special Collections Division (28.2)
|
Heures a l'usaige de Rome
(Book of Hours).
Paris: Philippe Pigouchet, 1498.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (29)
|
Medieval Adam & Eve
This Latin book of hours, printed on
vellum with colored woodcuts, is an example of an extravagant
genre of late medieval piety that flourished in prosperous
lay circles. Elegant borders, both fanciful and naturalistic,
are a trademark of such works, which were produced both as
manuscripts and as printed books in late medieval and early
modern times. The fine, detailed coloring, which appears throughout
this volume, reflects the precious nature of this book and
the wealthy class for which it was painted. |
Rare Armenian Religious
Scroll
Adam and Eve are depicted in the upper
left corner of this rare, published Armenian prayer scroll
(hmayil), most likely printed in Constantinople (now
Istanbul) in 1725 and newly acquired by the Library of Congress.
Between the late seventeenth and the early nineteenth centuries,
Armenians began to produce religious works like this one for
domestic use. Usually in manuscript form, prayer scrolls are
always profusely illustrated at the beginning of chapters
and throughout the text, which includes prayers, biblical
narratives, lists and portraits of saints, religious poetry,
and magical texts. |
Hmayil (prayer scroll),
Istanbul (?): 1725.
Page 2 - Page
3
Near East Section,
African and Middle Eastern
Division (29.2)
|
Early Spiritual
Influences |
Ludolph of Saxony (ca.1295-1377).
Vita Domini nostri Jesu Christi
ex quatuor Evangeliis.
Delft: 1488.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (30)
|
Ludolph of Saxony (ca. 1295-1377).
Vita Christi.
Holland: Pieter Van Os Zwolle, 1499.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (30.2)
|
This life of Christ was
immensely popular spiritual reading in the late Middle Ages
and early Renaissance periods. It was circulated in manuscript
and print versions and translated into other languages from
Latin. The Vita influenced many people, including
Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits. This Dutch version
is notable for the originality of the woodcut designs and
the quality and care with which the watercolor was applied
as shown in this image of Adam and Eve. |
The Book of Adam
The Armenians were long fascinated with
the biblical Adam and Eve and created an extensive literature
on the pair, including apocryphal accounts, theological discussions,
and magical compositions. The mono-rhythmic Adamagirk
by the poet Aakel of Siwnik (1350-1422), was composed sometime
between 1401 and 1403. This manuscript is a seventeenth-century
copy. The poem is unique both for its length and its detail.
A medieval Armenian biblical epic, it begins with the story
of the fall of Lucifer and concludes with the resurrection
of Christ, considered the new Adam. |
Aakel of Siwnik.
Adamagirk (Book of
Adam).
Page 2
Manuscript, copied 1653.
Near East Section,
African and Middle Eastern
Division (31)
|
Holbein's Adam and Eve |
Hans Holbein the Younger.
The Images of the Old Testament. . . .
Lyon: I. Frellon, 1549
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (31.1) |
These images of
Adam and Eve tasting the forbidden fruit and being expelled
from the Garden of Eden as punishment are among the most significant
graphic works of the noted German artist Hans Holbein (1497-1543),
who designed ninety-four woodcuts depicting events described
in the Old Testament. They were published in various editions
with Latin, French, Spanish, and English texts and in complete
editions of the Bible. The images are accompanied by citations
of the relevant Biblical text along with short Latin explanatory
notes. |
Greek First Humans
This illustration for The Symposium
by Plato (428347 B.C.), depicts a first human as described
by the playwright Aristophanes in the text: "The primeval
man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he
had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces. . .
. He could walk upright as men now do." After these humans
rebelled against the gods, as Zeus punished them by slicing
them in two. Ever since, according to Aristophanes, humans
have been driven by love into trying to reunite with their
missing half to make a perfect whole. |
Plato.
Lysis, or, Friendship. The
Symposium.
Phaedrus. 1968
Translated by Benjamin Jowett.
Illustrated by Eugene Karlin.
Mount Vernon, New York: Limited
Editions Club, 1968.
Courtesy of The Heritage Press.
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (32)
|
"Promethee
qui forme l'homme avec
Minerve, qui lui donne l'ame . . ."
(Prometheus who creates man with
Minerva, who gives him a soul . . .)
Plate 24 in Bernard de Montfaucon.
L'Antiquitée et représentée en figures
(Antiquity Explained and Represented
in Figures.) Vol. 1.
Paris: F. Delaulne, 1719.
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (32.1)
|
Prometheus Creates Man
The figures on the far left depict the
creation of man as described in ancient Greek mythology. After
Zeus assigned the titan (giant) brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus
the task of creating man, Prometheus shaped man from mud,
and the goddess Athena (Minerva to the Romans) breathed life
into the clay figure. This plate is one of 1120 in a work
by French scholar Bernard de Montfaucon (1665-1714) in which
he reproduces images of ancient monuments that might be useful
in the study of the religion, domestic customs, material life,
military institutions, and funeral rites of ancient peoples. |
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