Ad Imaginem Dei: O King of All the Nations!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

O King of All the Nations!

Michelangelo, Creation of Adam
Italian, 1508-1513
Vatican, Sistine Chapel

The sixth of the "O Antiphons", for December 22 reads: "O King of all the nations, the only joy of every human heart; O Keystone of the mighty arch of man, come and save the creature you fashioned from the dust". It asks for Christ, King of the nations, to "save the creature you fashioned from the dust" which raises images of the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve.

Probably the most famous image of the Creation of Adam is that by Michelangelo on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo's conception of the subject both embraces the iconographic tradition and departs from it.

Michelangelo, Detail of Creation of Adam showing the figure of Eve

The most traditional element is found in Adam's reclining posture. The departures from the tradition are found, first of all, in the dynamism of the figure of God, who zooms in from the side on a cloud, surrounded by angels, and bestows life through that dramatic synapse between His extended finger and that of Adam.

And, most non-traditional of all is the figure of Eve. She appears, tucked under God's left arm, which she clutches as she looks with curiosity (and perhaps some apprehension) toward her soon-to-be spouse.1

Earlier Images

Earlier images were more static, depicting God, generally unaccompanied,

standing over the figure of Adam as He calls life into it.

Andrea Pisano, Creation of Adam
Italian, 1334-1337
Florence, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo

The Creation of Adam
From the Bible historiale of Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1400
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 3, fol. 6v

Workshop of the Boucicaut Master, The Creation of Adam
From a Bible historiale
French (Paris), 1400-1424
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 394, fol. 5r

Eve did not make her appearance in creation images, except for those images that shows her creation from Adam's rib.

Huntingfield Psalter, Creation of Eve
English, 1210-1220
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 43, fol. 7r (detail)

The Creation of Eve
From the Carrow Psalter-Hours
English (East Anglia), c. 1250
Baltimore, Walters Art Museum
MS W.34, fol. 21v

Richard de Montbaston, Creation of Eve
from Bible historiale
French (Paris), 1320-1330
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 322, fol. 11v

Creation of Eve
from Weltkronik
German (Regensburg), 1355-1365
New York, Pierpont Morgan Library
MS M 769, fol. 9r

Jean Bondol and Others, Creation of Eve
From a Bible historiale complétée by Guiard des Moulins
French (Paris), c. 1371-1372
The Hague, Meermano Museum
MS MMW 10 B 23, fol. 9v

Creation of Eve
From the Tafel van den Kersten ghelove (Winter) by Dirc van Delf
Dutch, c. 1400-1404
Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum
MS 171, fol. 25r

I rather like this little image, which is unconventional. Eve appears to be diving into Adam, instead of being pulled from him.

Malergruppe A, The Creation of Eve
From a History Bible
German, c. 1424-1450
Munich, Bayerisches Staatsbibliothek
MS Cgm 1101, fol. 29

Master Francois and Collaborators, Creation of Eve
From a Speculum historiale of Vincentius Bellavacensis
French (Paris), 1463
Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France
MS Francais 50, fol. 20v

Michelangelo also painted a far more conventional image of the creation of Eve, also on the Sistine ceiling. It is far more static and traditional than the amazingly dynamic Creation of Adam.

Michelangelo, Creation of Eve
Italian, 1308-1512
Vatican, Sistine Chapel

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1. Steinberg, Leo. "Who's Who in Michelangelo's Creation of Adam: A Chronology of the Picture's Reluctant Self-Revelation", Art Bulletin, Vol. 74, Number 4, December 1992, pp. 552-566. This article explores the chronology of attempts to identify the figures surrounding God the Father.

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Uniquely among the monotheistic religions Christianity permits the use of images of God. Why? The answer lies in the Christian belief in the reality of the Incarnation. Since God has assumed human nature and form the Biblical prohibition against making images of God ceases to apply. As the second Council of Nicea declared in 787 "Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets."
(Council of Nicaea II: DS 600)

This decree of Nicea II was promulgated for the entire church, both Greek and Latin speaking, and was a response to the strongly held beliefs of the iconoclasts, who wished to suppress the use of images, which had convulsed the Byzantine Empire and the eastern churches for almost 100 years. In addition, St. John Damascene, last of the Greek Fathers and a staunch defender of images, had written in De imagine ("In Defense of Images") "Of old, God the incorporeal and uncircumscribed was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen clothed in flesh, and conversing with men, (Bar. 3.38) I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter." (St. John Damascene, De Imagine, Part I, 15-16, from Internet Medieival Sourcebook.)

The ways in which this imaging of the divine has been accomplished in the course of time is the subject of Christian iconography. To quote from the Merriam-Webster dictionary, iconography is "1: pictorial material relating to or illustrating a subject; 2: the traditional or conventional images or symbols associated with a subject and especially a religious or legendary subject; 3: the imagery or symbolism of a work of art, an artist, or a body of art".

The iconography of any subject develops and changes over time. Christian iconography develops and changes too, as reflection on the Gospels and Tradition develops over time and as the act of making art develops and changes as well. This is the background for this blog.

Ad Imaginem Dei

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Wednesday, December 21, 2011

O King of All the Nations!

Earlier Images

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