Week 9 Post #8

Option #2 

Compare and contrast 

Fall of Adam and Eve- The crucifixion of Christ

(Third panel down from the top)

I chose to compare the Fall of Adam and Eve with the Crucifixion of Christ, because these two happenings are not only common knowledge for Christians, but also common knowledge of everyone who has access to civilization. These two images relate to one another more than they differ, as they both share a common theme of change in the Bible.

For example, in the first example we see a depiction of the story of Adam and Eve, which is entirely straight forward. Along with this imagery we can imagine instantly the full story, of Eve being tempted by Satan in the form of a snake, to disobey God and eat from the forbidden fruit tree which would make man like God, with the knowledge of God. This is why Eve is covering herself while offering the fruit to Adam. Since the fruit made her realize she was naked, and thus ashamed of herself. This story is the starting point of man, or rather, the starting point of sin on earth. This is why there is sin in the world today.

In comparison, the story of the crucifixion of Christ is another important story of the Bible; not only because the Son of God came to earth to save us, but because of the erasing of the sin inside of us when we believe in Him, and accept Him. This is an extremely important aspect of the bible because the entire human race was changed the day He rose again. Not only because it introduced Christianity to the world, but because it saved us from sin. Thus in a way, it is the end of sin; not because sin no longer existed after the crucifixion of Christ, but because of the ability to rid ourselves of sin without having to sacrifice something in place of the sin that we commit. Instead Jesus did that for us-which is depicted here.

Both of these images represent something truly important, so it focuses on both aspects without many other distracting details or frills. Jesus is in the direct center on the right, and he is the biggest and most prominent person on that square. Whereas on the left scene of Adam and Eve, the apple is in the center, and even though there are two people in this image, your eye goes directly to that apple. It represents Sin, and because of that, is the most important thing in this image.  The arms of the figures help the eye to follow the apple to Adam, and then back around to Eve in a full rotation of the composition. Looking back on the crucifixion of Christ, there are four figures around Jesus. A guard on the left, testing his corpse to see if he is truly dead, John the Baptist on the left, another guard offering Jesus some sort of liquid, perhaps vinegar (if memory serves me correctly), and the Virgin Mary on the right.

I was also curious about the placement of these panels, because of their importance to Christianity, why they would not be placed at the top. It’s also interesting to see that there were three panels on the left depicting Adam and eve, even though in our modern outlook, we usually just focus on the fall of Adam and Eve instead of the creation of them. But looking further at this composition it seems relevant to point out that these panels are three down from the top, and in the Bible it is reflected that 3 is an important number; mainly because it represents the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. I’ve grown up being taught about God’s 3 forms as being 3 in 1. It makes me wonder, if this was done purposely or by coincidence, since it seems to fit into that assumption.   

All in all, these scenes depict major changes in the world's history, as well as the Bible. Sin being introduced, and Sin being taken away. Big changes, both relating to sin. I doubt that was a coincidence.