Carlo Pellicani (after Carlo Buzzi), The Creation of Eve

1807-13
Marble
West façade, Milan Cathedral

This relief illustrates Genesis 2:18-23. Because he has judged that it is "not good for man to be alone" God he creates various birds and animals and brings them to Adam. Adam finds none of them to be "a helper like himself," so while he is sleeping God forms a woman out of one of his ribs. In the foreground God takes the woman's hand as she steps forward from the sleeping Adam. In the background are the birds and animals that God tried first.

Christian commentators take the creation of Eve to be a foreshadowing of the birth of the Virgin Mary. The cathedral's full name is the Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of St. Mary, so appropriately this panel is above the main entrance and below a large plaque inscribed maria nascente, "the birth of Mary."

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Photographed at the cathedral by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.