Depicting the Creation of Woman presented a special problem for Renaissance artists. The medieval iconography of Eve rising half-formed from Adam's side was hardly compatible with their commitment to the naturalistic representation of the human figure. At the same time, the story of God constructing the first woman from a rib did not offer the kind of dignified, affective pictorial narrative that artists, patrons, and the public prized. Jack M. Greenstein takes this artistic problem as the point of departure for an iconographic study of this central theme of Christian culture. His book shows how the meaning changed along with the form when Lorenzo Ghiberti, Andrea Pisano, and other Italian sculptors of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries revised the traditional composition to accommodate a naturalistically depicted Eve. At stake, Greenstein argues, is the role of the artist and the power of image-making in reshaping Renaissance culture and religious thought.

This book traces how four early Renaissance masters represented the Creation of Eve.

About the Author
Jack M. Greenstein is Professor and Chair of the Visual Arts Department at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of Mantegna and Painting as Historical Narrative (1992), as well as many journal articles on Renaissance art.

Reviews
'This is an original and insightful addition to our understanding of iconography, as sensitive to theology in specific historic contexts as it is to theories of art history and interpretation.' Chloe Reddaway, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History



Book Information
ISBN 9781107103245
Author Jack M. Greenstein
Format Hardback
Page Count 266
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 870g
Dimensions(mm) 260mm * 185mm * 20mm