Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

Title: Ghent Altarpiece, detail: Eve
Creator:
Description: Eve holds the forbidden fruit in her right hand and covers her genitals with fig leaves held in her left. According to Linda Seidel, the dark line running up Eve's abdomen is a depiction of the linea nigra, a change in skin pigmentation that occus in pregnant women. Eve's pregnant body would have reminded viewers of the pain in childbirth meted out to her and all women by God as punishment after the Fall.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Rights: Public Domain
Subject (See Also): Altarpieces Eve (Biblical Figure) Fall of Humankind Nude Pregnancy
Geographic Area: Low Countries
Century: 15
Date: ca. 1425-1429
Related Work: Ghent Altarpiece. See a high resolution version, closed and open, along with close-ups and technical reports sponsored by the Getty Foundation: http://closertovaneyck.kikirpa.be/#home
Current Location: Ghent, St. Bavo’s Cathedral, interior right wing
Original Location:
Artistic Type (Category): Digital images; Painting
Artistic Type (Material/Technique): Panel; Oil
Donor: Layman; Jodocus Vijd, merchant
Height/Width/Length(cm): 213.3cm/32.3cm/
Inscription:
Related Resources: Linda Seidel, "Adam and Eve: Shameless First Couple of the Ghent Altarpiece," Different Visions: A Journal of New Perspectives on Medieval Art 1 (2008): 1-18.