RAFFAELLO Sanzio
(b. 1483, Urbino, d. 1520, Roma)

The Creation of Eve from Adam

c. 1500
Oil on canvas, 167 x 94 cm
Pinacoteca Comunale, Città di Castello

This processional banner, significant for its very early date yet disappointing for its ruinous condition, gives some idea of Raphael's starting point. The banner, the front of which displays the tripartite deity flanked by Sts Sebastian and Roch, was commissioned in the town of Città di Castello by the Confraternity of the Holy Trinity. In the first half of the seventeenth century the two sides of the banner were separated. What had been the back view shows the Creator removing one of Adam's ribs, from which Eve will be brought forth. The sleeping, well-proportioned Adam, reclining in a graceful pose, is a particularly proficient treatment of the human form on the part of a young artist