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© Hildesheim, St Godehard |
THE EXPULSION
FROM PARADISE
Genesis 3:21-24
The action is divided by three arches which represent the gates of Paradise,
guarded on the left by the cherub with the flaming sword. Adam and Eve,
wearing skins and carrying a scythe and distaff, are driven out of Paradise
by God.
This is a conflation of two episodes in the wrong order. After Adam and
Eve have left Paradise, the cherub is placed at the gate to guard the
tree of life. In the Anglo-Saxon Caedmon Genesis (Oxford, Bodleian Library,
Junius 11, p45, 46 ) this episode is told in two separate scenes, in the
correct order. God, rather than an angel, as agent of the expulsion is
also Anglo-Saxon, found in British Library, MS Cotton Claudius B.IV, f7v
(AP, 80)
Just two Old Testament scenes are used to introduce the extensive New
Testament cycle which follows. The juxtaposition of the Expulsion and
Annunciation provides an immediate visual link between Sin and Redemption.
Quire 2.
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