Adam and Eve

ITALY: Masaccio (left) and Masolino (right) capture the expulsion moment in the Brancacci Chapel, Florence. Masaccio's image is widely regarded as one of the works that kicked off Italian Renaissance painting

FRANCE: The Temptation of Eve by Gislebertus - originally half of the cathedral door lintel, now in the Rolin Museum, Autun (Burgundy)

FRANCE: Basilique Ste-Madeleine, Vézelay (Burgundy)

FRANCE: Fleury Abbey Church - San Benoît sur Loire - Where on earth did the faces and hair styles come from ?

SPAIN: Adam (with Spanish mo matching that of God) and Eve being ejected from an archivolt of the Puerta de las Platerias (Goldsmith's Portal) - the only Romanesque portal left in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

SPAIN: San Martín in Frómista, Spanish Camino

SPAIN: Santa Maria la Real, Sangüesa (Navarra)

FRANCE: Adam and Eve in an archivolt of the facade of Notre Dame la Grande, Poitiers (West France)

FRANCE: Capital in the tiny pilgrim chapel in the tower of St-Pierre, Bessuéjouls (near Espalion, SW France)

ITALY: Eve seems to be feeding the serpent in this primitive fresco in the old monastery Church of San Michele al Pozzo Bianco in Bergamo

FRANCE: St-Gatien Cathedral, Tours - Adam and Eve - entry - sampling - admonishment - exit

FRANCE: The North Rose window of Reims Cathedral

These large sculptures, now in the Palais du Tau (Reims), were the original 1235 voussures inside the external arch of the north transept rose window of Reims cathedral. They have been replaced by copies.

FRANCE: The Adam and Eve Story occupies a set of scenes in the Good Samaritan Window of Chartres Cathedral.

Below is a glimpse of life post Eden - Eve, looking sad and droopy and not really in to learning how to spin, and Adam resignedly learning to dig.

SCOTLAND: Relief image - Dryburgh Abbey, Scottish Borders

Postcard image

ENGLAND: Expulsion moment from the facade of Lincoln Cathedral

ENGLAND: Lincoln Cathedral north rose - and Adam and Eve get rehab advice on their new careers as digger and spinner after the unfortunate affair with the serpent and apple.

ENGLAND: Eve, Serpent and a hacked off Adam in a misericord in Worcester Cathedral.

ENGLAND: Adam, a very glam Serpent and Eve in a roof boss in Norwich Cathedral

ENGLAND: St Petroc, Bodmin

ENGLAND: St Peter, Hook Norton

ITALY: This corbel in Frederick IIs Castello in Trani (Puglia), used to support a canopy over the entrance to the Castello's grand hall - where Manfred, last of the Hohenstaufen Kings of the combined lands of Sicily & Southern Italy, married Helena in 1259

ITALY: Adam and Eve in the transept of the completely mosaiced floor of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunciata, Otranto (South Puglia) (left).

They are also given a wonderful little "celebrity farewell" cameo (right) in the nave mosaics.

guidebook photo

ITALY: Many of the Romanesque Puglian Cathedrals originally had mosaiced floors, but these have largely disappeared over the centuries. In Trani the surviving mosaic bits and pieces near the altar include this Adam and Eve.

SICILY: Monreale Duomo and Cloisters

The photos above right and below left on the right are from the book "Cloisters of Europe". This outstanding coffee table book can presently (May 2009) be obtained for very good prices.

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Link to Paradoxplace Cloisters' Page

ITALY: Cloisters of San Paolo fuori le Mura, Rome

Lastly, for something completely different, a take on our two friends from an Iranian Islamic "Book of Divination" c1550, from:

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