Introduction to the Digital Gallery

Pride and Greed are human characters that often intertwine with each other. Paintings of different eras have been completed that represent the pride of the wealthy (wealthy of knowledge in the case of Adam and Eve). Greed has led to the fall of all the characters in the paintings (Adam and Eve’s banishment from Eden, the fall of monarchy in France, and the rising of proletariat in Mexico). Pride and greed worked hand in hand to supply happiness and bitterness as a cycle in the course of human history.

Monday, May 9, 2011

"Adam and Eve" by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1528


Lucas Cranach the Elder was a Renaissance artist from Germany during the time of the Reformation. Cranach has completed several paintings of Adam and Eve ("Lucas Cranach the Elder biography"). The style is based in a more static fashion in which straightforward and simple drawings are produced, which contrasts his work before 1505 when his paintings were dramatic and dynamic ("Lucas Cranach the Elder biography"). Adam and Eve express the same facial emotion on the painting though Eve’s body gesture appears more confident. The serpent is hidden at the back in the darkness to show that the serpent is from the darkness or evil.
The painting was based upon Genesis 3:6 in which the serpent tempts Eve into eating the fruit of knowledge, and Eve then requests Adam to eat it also ("Lucas Cranach the Elder biography"). This action is the basis of all sins in the world and God later punishes Adam and Eve for wrongdoing through work and pain during childbirth then banishes both from the Garden of Eden (“Adam and Eve”). Adam and Eve fell into the trap of pride and greed when they wanted to become supposedly greater than God (“Adam and Eve”). Their greed and pride led to their downfall and then humankind’s, which is another example of how pride and greed worked together and caused a downfall.

1 comment:

  1. Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction. See the link below for more info.


    #greed
    www.ufgop.org

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