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The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise

1445
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 956
This masterpiece of Sienese painting combines Giovanni di Paolo’s exquisite visionary effects and narrative detail. The picture presents a vision of Paradise reminiscent of that described by the great Florentine poet Dante in "The Divine Comedy." The universe is shown as a celestial globe, with the earth at the center surrounded by a series of concentric circles representing first the four elements, the known planets (including the sun, in accordance with medieval and Renaissance cosmology), and finally the constellations of the zodiac. Presiding over the scene of Creation is God the Father, bathed in a glowing celestial light as he is borne aloft by seraphim. Beside the "mappamondo" (map of the world) is the garden of Paradise, its four rivers issuing from the ground at the lower right. The garden's effulgent flora symbolize the pure and sinless state of man before the Fall. A diminutive Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden by a lithe angel whose unusual nakedness and human form may symbolize his deep compassion for the corrupted state of humankind after the fall from grace.
This panel was originally part of the predella (the lowermost horizontal component) of Giovanni di Paolo's "Guelfi Altarpiece," formerly in the Church of San Domenico in Siena (now Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence). It originally joined a representation of Paradise, now in the Metropolitan Museum (06.1046). For a reconstruction of the altarpiece, see http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/436512?rpp=30&pg=1&ft=giovanni+di+paolo&pos=1 (additional images).
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Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise
  • Artist: Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) (Italian, Siena 1398–1482 Siena)
  • Date: 1445
  • Medium: Tempera and gold on wood
  • Dimensions: Overall: 18 1/4 × 20 1/2 in. (46.4 × 52.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
  • Object Number: 1975.1.31
  • Curatorial Department: The Robert Lehman Collection

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Paradise, Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) Italian, Tempera and gold on canvas, transferred from wood
Paradise
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
1445
Saint Ambrose, Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
Saint Ambrose
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
1465–70
Saint Catherine of Siena Beseeching Christ to Resuscitate Her Mother, Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) Italian, Tempera and gold on wood
Saint Catherine of Siena Beseeching Christ to Resuscitate Her Mother
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
ca. 1447–65
The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni (1220–1286), Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
The Blessed Ambrogio Sansedoni (1220–1286)
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
1447–65
The Exultation of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia) Italian, Tempera on wood, gold ground
The Exultation of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino
Giovanni di Paolo (Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia)
ca. 1450

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