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DOI Artikel:Mazurczak, Urszula M.: Z kręgu zagadnień ciała i cielesności w cyklach obrazowych Genesis: na wybranych przykładach sztuki średniowiecznej
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.37080#0030
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URSZULA MAZURCZAK
BODY AND CARNALITY IN THE SCENE OF “GENESIS”:
AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED MEDIEYAL WORKS OF ART
S u m m a r y
The Medieval imagery in the representations of the Genesis are profusely analysed in the
literaturę of the subject. This is owing to the fact that the images in ąuestion cumulate a large
number of interrelated religious motifs and ideas. The paramount motif is that of the Creator,
whose presence was usually represented graphically by the figurę of Christ with the cross-
nimbus. Other figures were also used as substitutes of God the Father. Figures of angels taking
part in the conseąuent stages of creation are a freąuent iconographic element, too. Irrespective
of the above, the bodies and the carnality of Adam and Eve has been discussed only
marginally, or completely ignored in the research on the Medieval imagery of the Genesis.
Despite the common belief that Medieval art had no intense interest in the human body, the
scenes depicting the creation of the human being reveal the artists' attempts to take up the
theological discourse on the naturę of carnality, bearing “God's image.”
This paper points at a selection of patristic texts and those written by other authors who
interpreted carnality in the context of the mystery of the human soul, intellect, human senses
as well as the conditions relating to the sexual divide. The analysis is based on the most
outstanding Medieval miniatures and reliefs that represent the relationship between the human
being and the Creator in the moment of creating, first, Adam and then Eve. Special emphasis
is placed on the artists' efforts to carefully represent the gestures of the Creator, which are to
tell the spectator about the dignity of the human body as created by God. Also discussed are
images that pinpoint the difference in the artistic positioning of the representation of God in
relation to Adam and Eve. Some of the images show closeness and affinity, when God leans
down towards the world in the act of creating man. In others, God sits on a globe, creating
man by means of a divine gesture, but staying in a distance to His creation.
A vital element in the way in which the first parents' bodies were painted was how a given
artist emphasised or understated the anatomical features of Adam and Eve. Some artists even
presented them as children, in an apparent need to give their own interpretation of their age.
Yet another significant aspect in the analysis of how the human body was depicted is that of
surroundings. The representations of the garden of Eden present naturę, with special exposition
of the ground on which the newly-created Adam is lying, a rock as well the trees and rivers
in paradise.
Translated by Konrad Klimkowski
Słowa kluczowe: Stwórca, człowiek, ciało, cielesność, zmysły, intelekt dusza, ubiór.
Key words: God the Creator, human being, body, carnality, senses, intellect, soul,
apparel.
URSZULA MAZURCZAK
BODY AND CARNALITY IN THE SCENE OF “GENESIS”:
AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED MEDIEYAL WORKS OF ART
S u m m a r y
The Medieval imagery in the representations of the Genesis are profusely analysed in the
literaturę of the subject. This is owing to the fact that the images in ąuestion cumulate a large
number of interrelated religious motifs and ideas. The paramount motif is that of the Creator,
whose presence was usually represented graphically by the figurę of Christ with the cross-
nimbus. Other figures were also used as substitutes of God the Father. Figures of angels taking
part in the conseąuent stages of creation are a freąuent iconographic element, too. Irrespective
of the above, the bodies and the carnality of Adam and Eve has been discussed only
marginally, or completely ignored in the research on the Medieval imagery of the Genesis.
Despite the common belief that Medieval art had no intense interest in the human body, the
scenes depicting the creation of the human being reveal the artists' attempts to take up the
theological discourse on the naturę of carnality, bearing “God's image.”
This paper points at a selection of patristic texts and those written by other authors who
interpreted carnality in the context of the mystery of the human soul, intellect, human senses
as well as the conditions relating to the sexual divide. The analysis is based on the most
outstanding Medieval miniatures and reliefs that represent the relationship between the human
being and the Creator in the moment of creating, first, Adam and then Eve. Special emphasis
is placed on the artists' efforts to carefully represent the gestures of the Creator, which are to
tell the spectator about the dignity of the human body as created by God. Also discussed are
images that pinpoint the difference in the artistic positioning of the representation of God in
relation to Adam and Eve. Some of the images show closeness and affinity, when God leans
down towards the world in the act of creating man. In others, God sits on a globe, creating
man by means of a divine gesture, but staying in a distance to His creation.
A vital element in the way in which the first parents' bodies were painted was how a given
artist emphasised or understated the anatomical features of Adam and Eve. Some artists even
presented them as children, in an apparent need to give their own interpretation of their age.
Yet another significant aspect in the analysis of how the human body was depicted is that of
surroundings. The representations of the garden of Eden present naturę, with special exposition
of the ground on which the newly-created Adam is lying, a rock as well the trees and rivers
in paradise.
Translated by Konrad Klimkowski
Słowa kluczowe: Stwórca, człowiek, ciało, cielesność, zmysły, intelekt dusza, ubiór.
Key words: God the Creator, human being, body, carnality, senses, intellect, soul,
apparel.