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Illustration 8 to Milton's "Paradise Lost": The Creation of Eve

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Type
Drawings(Opens in new tab)
Date
1807
Accession number
000.9
Maker
William Blake(Opens in new tab) (British, 1757–1827)
Dimensions
9 15/16 x 8 3/16 in. (25.3 x 20.8 cm.)
Medium
watercolor and pen and black ink over graphite on paper
Description
Under the "forming" hand of Christ, Eve rises from Adam's side, her hands together in prayer (8:452-77). In the poem, Adam relates this event which he saw "as in a trance… / Though sleeping" (8:462-63). His condition may account for Blake's atmospheric indefiniteness in the delineation of the aura around Christ and the hazy background. The moon, traditionally a celestial representative of the feminine, is poised directly above Eve. Beginning in The Book of Urizen (1794), Blake treated the separation of the sexes in his mythic poetry as a fall into division. In this context, Adam's sleep can be viewed as a fall into a lower level of consciousness. Similarly, the giant leaf on which Adam lies and Christ stands suggests a diminution from a spiritual to a vegetative state. Yet this can also be a fortunate fall, a necessary step toward ultimate reunification and the salvation of both sexes. As Blake writes in Jerusalem, (ca. 1804-20), "…when Man sleeps in Beulah, the Saviour in mercy takes/ Contractions Limit, and of the Limit he forms Woman: That/ Himself may in process of time be born Man to redeem." [1]. The creation of Eve is also pictured in Jerusalem, plate 35, showing Eve just emerging from Adam's side and Christ soaring above in flames, and in Blake's Genesis manuscript (see 000.11 and 000.12). In Adam's recounting of this scene, he does not specifically refer to Christ's presence. However, Milton consistently attributes the creation of the word to Christ as the Father's "effectual might" (3:170) and the performative embodiment of His creative "Word" (7:163; see also "The Argument" to Book 7). Accordingly, Blake pictures Christ as Eve's creator even though the tradition established by Renaissance portrayals of the Biblical event, such as Michelangelo's Sistine fresco, gives this role to God the Father. An important precedent for the presence of Christ in Blake's design is Henry Fuseli's 1793 painting of the same subject (Hamburg, Kunsthalle). The godly creator in the background is somewhat ambiguously characterized; but in a letter of 14 August 1795, Fuseli wrote that some viewers supposed "that the aerial figure may perhaps aim at being a representation of the Supreme Being: no Such thought entered my head - for Believers, let it be the Son, the Visible agent of His father; for others it is merely a Superior Being entrusted with [Eve's] Creation." [2]. Blake's preliminary pencil drawing for "The Creation of Eve" is in the British Museum (Butlin 1981, No. 535). Only the three figures and the moon are indicated in sketchy outline. In the Butts/Boston version, Adam's body is turned a little more toward us, his feet touch each other, and his left hand and part of his left forearm are pictured. Eve's face is less turned toward Christ and her brow and mouth are more relaxed, expressing reverence rather than worry. Her eyes look upward rather than toward Christ's face. His hair is longer and He stands on a giant leaf clearly distinct from the one beneath Adam. A diffuse halo surrounds His head; the aura around His body is narrower than in the Huntington version and does not reach to His feet. The tree trunks and foliage in the background are clearly outlined. The foreground vegetation has been rearranged, with lily-like flowers lower right. The design in the incomplete series planned for Linnell closely follows the Butts/Boston version (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Butlin 1981, No. 537.2). Christ's halo is larger and more clearly defined than in the earlier versions. There is a diffused aura around Eve's head, but none around Christ's body. Notes 1. Pl. 42, lines 32-34 (Blake 1982, 189). Blake's state of Beulah-"a Soft Moony Universe feminine lovely/ Pure mild & Gentle given in Mercy to those who sleep" (The Four Zoas; Blake 1982, 303)-is also evoked by the visual qualities of this Paradise Lost illustration. Interpretations based on this and other passages in Blake's poetry are offered in Joseph H. Wicksteed, Blake's Vision of the Book of Job, 2d ed. (London: Dent, 1924), 227-28; Butlin 1978, 114-15; Dunbar 1980, 72-75. Behrendt 1983, 157-60. 2. Letter to William Roscoe, The Collected English Letters of Henry Fuseli, ed. David H. Weinglass (Millwood: Kraus, 1982), 138.
Credit
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Department
European Art
Find out more
View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)
Christ creates Eve from Adam's side, while the first man sleeps in a shallow depression in the earth. The crescent moon, a traditional symbol for the feminine principle in nature, rises above Eve's head. Throughout these illustrations, Blake emphasizes God the Son more than the other members of the Trinity.

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