Adam and Eve and the Fall

walwyn Wed, 08/31/2011 - 21:10
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Creation window

 

This window in the St Anne Chapel, Malvern Priory, has twelve scenes depicting the Creation story and the Fall. It is dated to between 1440-1450 and was probably the gift of Isabel Despenser and Richard de Beauchamp, 13th earl of Warwick. Only 11 panels survive and the bottom right panel has been lost and replaced with fragments.

 

The middle register of the window illustrate the creation of Adam and Eve, the Forbidden Fruit, and the Fall.

 

Creation of Adam, Medieval stained glass

 

 

then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

 

Creation of Eve, Medieval stained glass

 

So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

 

Forbidden Fruit, Medieval stained glass

 

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

 

The Fall, Medieval stained glass

 

But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.