God Accuses Adam and Eve After the Fall, Essay Example

For this project, I selected to analyze section of a Renaissance tapestry entitled Detail of Eve, from God Accuses Adam and Eve after the Fall tapestry. It is a part of a set of tapestry pieces entitled The Story of Creation. It was thought to have been designed by Pieter Coecke van Aelst circa 1548. It was physically woven by under the direction of Jan de Kempeneer and Frans Ghieteels of Brussels. The materials utilized in the creation of this piece included wool, silk, and silver- and silver-gilt-wrapped threads. It is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, New York.

I selected to analyze this piece because it had many differences and similarities of other pieces of Renaissance art. Like much of the other art produced in the period, this tapestry has a religious theme. However, many of these pieces attempt to depict more enlightened renditions of famous religious scenes. Therefore, many of these favor picture of Virgin Mary with baby Jesus or scenes of Jesus and the apostles. This section of tapestry is unique because it depicts Eve, a well-known figure to both those who follow the New and Old Testament.

While it is difficult to determine the particular reason that this piece was created, it was known that Coecke was considered a somewhat famous artist during his time. Therefore, his artwork was commissioned by well-known political figures such as Emperor Charles V, France’s François Ier, Henry VIII of England, and Cosimo de Medici. It is therefore unsurprising that the artist chose to depict a religious scene; whichever ruler commissioned the piece certainly requested it to reflect a biblical story. However, the artist’s ability to select an important yet not highlighted tale demonstrates his creativity despite his servitude.

This section of tapestry is reminiscent of much other art from the High Renaissance. The use of darker colors emphasizes the sincerity of the artistic depiction. Furthermore, the color is used well to emphasize the background surrounding Eve. Different shades of brown and green are used to depict the paradise surrounding her before she lets the snake convince her to ear the apple. The facial expression that the artist gave Eve reflects this scenario as well. Since she has not yet committed sin, she appears to be content. However, she looks like she may be thinking about something, which may indicate that the snake had already convinced her to commit an act against the word of God.

It is important to emphasize that this depiction of Eve is not particularly unique to the Renaissance, as this was a concept that was visited frequently during the Middle Ages. In both periods, religious themes were important, but for different reasons. In the Middle Ages, these pieces were meant to be found in churches and to represent biblical tales for the purpose of instruction. In the Renaissance however, art was meant to serve as a form of entertainment. Therefore, rather than presenting biblical characters as rigid and presenting them without emotions, the Renaissance movement attempted to present the same individuals as having more human qualities. Thus, in this tapestry of Eve, it is difficult to avoid the expression on her face. Furthermore, the way that she is sitting tells the viewer a lot about the story. She isn’t rigid, but relaxed. She is not presented wearing clothes so that her humanity can be emphasized; we can see the contours of her body and how they contribute to the way the scene is shown as a whole.

Despite the fact that very few colors are used in this tapestry, the viewer is very clear as to what is occurring in the foreground and in the background. Eve is very lightly colored and the largest object in this portion of the tapestry, so she is clearly the subject. The background however, is darker, which provides it with a degree of mystery. While Eve is currently happy, it is possible that the evil snake is lurking behind her. In this sense, the background may represent the decision that Eve must make that will ultimately influence the fate of man.

While many paintings of the Renaissance period were made with new dyes and therefore more colorful than many of the pictures that had preceded it during the Middle Ages, such dyed fabrics were not used for the creation of this piece. Since very expensive fabrics, such as those composed of silver threads, one can assume that this was not done due to a lack of funding for the piece. Coecke therefore selected these colors intentionally in order to create a contrast between the foreground and background. This allows the viewer to gain a greater understanding of the symbolism behind each color and how this piece of tapestry may individually contribute to the full scene.

There are many techniques utilized in this picture that contribute to a sense of the realistic presentation of Eve. As discussed above, the artist used perspective to render Eve as a three-dimensional image, distinct from the forest background. In addition, foreshortening was used to give the forest a sense of depth; not all of the plants in the image speared to be on one level. The dimensions of the painting were emphasized by use ofchiaroscuro, which was done most notably by using different shades to create the forest. Lastly, the painting was realistic because he drew Eve with realistic proportions. The biblical characters drawn in the Middle Ages were made to seem perfect, which means that they did not have the same body shape or size that we would expect the average person to have. However, in this image, Eve is drawn with large hips, indicating an “imperfection” that is typical of many women.

Based on the appearance of this piece of tapestry, it is likely that the artist set forth to capture similar scenes in the surrounding parts. There is a hand reaching towards Eve coming from the right of the tapestry, and it is likely that it is Adam’s hand, reaching out to her. This seems almost as if he is convincing her not to listen to the evil snake, without truly knowing what had occurred or man’s innate potential for evil. Ultimately, this tapestry was meant to entertain, and it is likely that the story of Adam and Eve is a favorite of the individual who had it commissioned. Otherwise, it was commissioned in order to teach a moral or lesson. The size of the tapestry as a whole emphasized this message. It is likely that the other pieces in this series contributed to the story as well.