Stanza della Segnatura: Ceiling – Adam and Eve Raphael (1483-1520)

A description of Raphael Santi’s painting Adam and Eve

Ceiling mural, mosaic. Dimensions: 120 by 105 cm. Dated 1509-1511. Located in the Stanza della Señatura, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City.

This stanza - translated from Italian as room - is the office of the Pope and is best known because it is painted on the walls and ceiling by one of the greatest Renaissance artists in world history. It is in this room that the master’s well-known work, The School of Athens, is located.

The characteristic curves of the painting are due to the curved construction of the vault and its proximity to other works. The painting on wet plaster is complemented with fine gold mosaics which replaced the foreground, but did not deprive the work of volume and added an additional, perhaps excessive, luxury.

The other name of the creation, The Fall into Sin, corresponds to the basis of the subject, borrowed from the Christian tradition. The Bible describes the event when the woman, persuaded by the devil to taste the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, persuaded her husband, the first man, to taste it. He listened to her, even though he was warned that it could lead to death. As a result, people were expelled from the Garden of Eden, disfavored by God, and became mortal.

It is believed that Raphael borrowed the idea for this particular depiction of the serpent tempter (half child) and the general images of Adam and Eve from the work of another prominent German contemporary artist, A. Dürer. The plasticity and soft forms of the human figures are emphasized by the technique of contraposto, when the positions of different parts of the body (in this case, the lines of the shoulders and hips, especially for women) are opposite, but together form harmony. The exuberance of the flora of Eden is expressed through the drawing of many trees and grasses, which, as in most paintings of the period, partially cover the nakedness of people. Careful choice of color, glowing skin and facial expressions give the fresco a serenity and sublimity, among which the dark serpent is disturbing and foreshadows near misfortune.