03 — ARTWORK
Adam and Eve Labouring
- MEDIUM
- Marble, height 100 cm
- TYPE
- Religious
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 1300 × 631 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
The picture shows a reliefA sculptural work in which all or part projects from the flat surface. There are three basic forms: low relief (bas-relief, basso rilievo), in which figures project less than half their depth from the background; medium relief (mezzo-rilievo), in which figures are seen half round; and high relief (alto rilievo), in which figures are almost detached from their background. on the west façadethe front or principal face of a building, especially one elaborately constructed; a blind façade is a façade that is purely decorative and does not relate to the structure of the building. of the cathedralThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed. of San Geminiano in Modena.
Master Wiligelmo worked from 1099 for the cathedral architect Lanfranco in Modena. We know his name due to the inscription which he left over one of the four façade reliefs whose theme is essentially the Book of Genesis. These four reliefs are the starting point of RomanesqueStyle of art and architecture prevailing throughout most of Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries, the first style to achieve such international currency. The dominant art of the Middle Ages was architecture, and 'Romanesque', like 'Gothic', is primarily an architectural term that has been extended to the other arts of the period. As the name suggests, it indicates a derivation from Roman art, and sometimes Romanesque is used to cover all the developments from Roman architecture in the period from the collapse of the Roman Empire until the flowering of the Gothic roughly AD 500-1200. More usually, however, it is applied to a distinctive style that emerged, almost simultaneously, in several countries - France, Germany, Italy, Spain - in the 11th century. It is characterized most obviously by a new massiveness of scale, reflecting the greater political and economic stability that followed a period when Christian civilization seemed in danger of extinction. Romanesque painting and sculpture are generally strongly stylized, with little of the naturalism and humanistic warmth of classical or later Gothic art. The forms of nature are freely translated into linear and sculptural designs which are sometimes majestically calm and severe and at others are agitated by a visionary excitement that can become almost delirious. Because of its expressionistic distortion of natural form, Romanesque art, as with other great non-naturalistic styles of the past, has had to wait for the revolution in sensibility brought about by the development of modern art in order to be widely appreciated. sculpture in Italy, and the return to the ClassicalRelating to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome (classical Antiquity). The classical world played a profoundly important role in the Renaissance, with Italian scholars, writers, and artists seeing their own period as the rebirth (the "renaissance") of classical values after the Middle Ages. The classical world was considered the golden age for the arts, literature, philosophy, and politics. Concepts of the classical, however, changed greatly from one period to the next. Roman literature provided the starting point in the 14th century, scholars patiently finding, editing and translating a wide range of texts. In the 15th century Greek literature, philosophy and art - together with the close study of the remains of Roman buildings and sculptures-expanded the concept of the classical and ensured it remained a vital source of ideas and inspiration. style is characteristic of Wiligelmo's figures.
The curse of manual labour fell chiefly on the peasants. It was looked down upon both by the traditional monastic orders, whose only manual activity was the copying and transcribing of manuscripts, and by the knightly classes. However, there are signs that in the twelfth century this attitude was being questioned, with a greater emphasis being placed on the redemptive potential of work. It has been suggested that this change of emphasis is reflected in the unusual labouring scene in the sculptural friezea horizontal band of architectural decoration; in a classical entablature, the horizontal member band between the architrave and the cornice. at Modena cathedral, in which both Adam and Eve, dressed as peasants, till the soil with hoes.
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-r546a573b1b2b28,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Adam and Eve Labouring by WILIGELMO},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-09},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/wiligelmo-r2b6871ab3819de/adam-and-eve-labouring-r546a573b1b2b28},
urldate = {2026-09-09},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-09. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
