Adam
French, Circa 1260
Stone
Provenance: Notre-Dame de Paris
Musée National du Moyen Age (the Cluny), Paris
This statue of a naked Adam is evidence that medievals did not have to wait for the Renaissance to have a knowledge of human anatomy. The muscles of the arms and legs correspond to those in a living person who is fit. The ribs in particular depart from the medieval habit of picturing them as perpendicular to the spine, and thus show that that habit was due to tradition, not ignorance.
Read more about images of Adam and Eve.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
