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The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (Italian:Cacciata dei progenitori dall'Eden) is afresco by the Italian Early Renaissance artistMasaccio. The fresco is a single scene from the cycle painted around 1425 by Masaccio,Masolino and others on the walls of theBrancacci Chapel in the church ofSanta Maria del Carmine inFlorence. It depictsthe expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden, from the biblicalBook of Genesis chapter 3, albeit with a few differences from the canonical account.[1]
Many possible sources of inspiration have been pointed out that Masaccio may have drawn from. For Adam, possible references include numerous sculptures ofMarsyas (fromGreek Mythology) and acrucifix done byDonatello.
For Eve, art analysts usually point to different versions ofVenus Pudica, such asPrudence byGiovanni Pisano.
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 Masaccio'sExpulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden,Smarthistory[1] |
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Three centuries after the fresco was painted,Cosimo III de' Medici, in line with contemporary ideas ofdecorum, demanded thatfig leaves be painted over to conceal thegenitals of the figures. These were later removed in the 1980s when the painting was fully restored and cleaned.[1]
Masaccio's work shaped the tastes of later Renaissance artists. Perhaps the most famous of these wasMichelangelo, whose teacher,Domenico Ghirlandaio, was a great admirer of Masaccio's religious scenes and designs. The influence on Michelangelo is most visible in his depiction ofThe Fall of Man and the Expulsion from the Garden of Eden on the ceiling of theSistine Chapel.[citation needed]
The main points in this painting that deviate from the account as it appears in Genesis:
However, since artists often followed the studio tradition, painting from previous versions of a scene--and so learning from and absorbing other artists' expressive inventions into their own work--any responsible iconographic study would founder in the shallows of literal expectation if the painting were only judged by its adherence to these details and therefore seen to be successful only if it functioned as a simple illustration for the scene.
Masaccio's evocation of Eve's howling, deeply felt pain in particular explores the meaning of the expulsion on a previously unexamined, more personal level.
In 2nd Temple Jewish texts, however, Adam is described as glorious (Sirach 49,&c.), and in both some Rabbinic and Christian Patristic sources, there is a long tradition of reading the Hebrew word for "skin" as "light" (there is only one slight difference in the vowels between the two words), and taking the Genesis 3:21 words about God clothing the pair in the Pluperfect sense, such as Sebastian Brock has shown is done in the Syriac tradition. In Rabbinic sources there are several times when Adam is compared and contrasted with Moses, particularly in terms of Moses' luminosity after ascending the mountain, and at least one text where Moses claims that his glory is greater than Adam's, because he did not lose his glory (Deuteronomy Rabbah 11:3); Genesis Rabbah 20:12 notes that Rabbi Meir had a scroll that had "light" instead of skin. The same tradition is found in Ephrem the Syrian, who, in hisHymns on Paradise 6, talks about Christ clothing the faithful in the robe that Adam lost with the transgression. The Canon of St. Andrew of Crete has the cantor liken himself to Adam, and say "I have found myself stripped naked of God".Bede, in his commentaryOn Genesis, has similar comments: "having lost the glory of innocence by their transgression, they claimed for themselves the garment of an excuse". The "stripped of divinity/glory/innocence/honor motif is thus found in the Latin, Greek, and Syriac traditions of the Church. It seems quite possible that these artists were working within this very old tradition that stretches across traditions.
