WOULD YOU ADAM AND EVE IT?

COMENICHINO: The Rebuke of Adam and Eve (1626)

At first glance, there’s something quite comical about this picture. And at second, third and fourth glances. I think it’s the facial expressions. That said, it’s quite a tense situation. God turns up, on a cloud, wearing a shorty dressing gown, with his retinue of putti (the chubby babies who are often mistakenly called cherubim. Cherubim are much more powerful and sinister entities), and angrily asks what the heck is happening, apple wise. Adam shrugs and gestures to Eve, Eve points to the serpent, the serpent says ‘who me?’, while a gammy looking lamb and a misshapen lion look on with ‘ohhh shit’ expressions. It may be slightly daft, but I think it sums up the circumstances and emotions of The Fall perfectly.