ROMANESQUE PAINTER, French
(active c. 1100 in Central France)

The Creation of Adam and Eve

c. 1100
Fresco
Abbey Church, Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe (Vienne)

The fresco cycle in the vault of the monastery church of Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe narrates stories from the Old Testament in a rather confusing sequence. When establishing the narrative composition, priority was given to the arrangement of narrative events rather than to the continuous narrative flow.

One of the scenes depicts the creation of the first human couple. It is the only scene in the cycle which contains events that unfold in chronological succession but are represented in a unified pictorial space. God the Father is seen bending over the reclining Adam and removing one of his ribs. Then Adam is depicted standing upright next to his creator, listening to his admonitions and winking at Eve. Eve, who has her back turned to the tree of knowledge, turns round and together with her husband leaves the Garden of Eden after the Fall of Man.