In the Brancacci Chapel in Florence there is an unusual fresco on the biblical story “Expulsion from Paradise”.
It was commissioned by the owner of the chapel, Felice Brancacci, the young master Masaccio (1401-1428). And since the customer was a secular person, he allowed the talented artist to deviate from the accepted iconography.
Masaccio. Expulsion from Paradise. 1426-1427. Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. Wikimedia Commons.
And Masaccio created something amazing.
This fresco is sharply different from what his contemporaries created.
And the artists of the next generation were not immediately able to realize what Masaccio had done.
And only the masters of the 16th century reached it.
But this work is truly similar to the work of an artist... of the late 19th century. More on this later.
Human emotions of ancestors
Let's start with an interesting comparison.
Which of these works do you think was created first?
Logically, Masaccio's fresco is younger. After all, in him we see more voluminous figures of people who experience very realistic emotions.
In the fresco on the right, the characters look more like dolls. Their poses and facial expressions do not correspond well to what is happening. And the angel is somehow too calm: no clear shooing gesture, no stern look.
In fact, both frescoes were created around the same time! And we compared Masaccio’s work with a fragment of “The Annunciation” by Fra Angelico.
Fra Angelico. Annunciation. 1426-1430. Prado Museum, Madrid. Wikimedia Commons.
His characters don’t seem to know what despair and shame are. They are constrained and confused.
But Adam and Eve Masaccio experience very strong emotions. This is a real drama that makes us empathize.
The woman's face is greatly distorted. She cannot and does not want to contain her despair and pain. Her facial features are more like a mask. It’s as if before us is Despair itself. And not the woman experiencing him.
Masaccio, Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise – videonews.club
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Before and after Masaccio
Before Masaccio, only one artist depicted such strong emotions - Giotto. 100 years before, we see despair and grief among the mourning angels over the dead Christ.
Giotto. Lamentation of Christ (detail). 1305. Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Thetimes.co.uk.
Masaccio continued Giotto's work a century later and tried to depict real drama.
But after Masaccio, things did not immediately work out with emotions for other masters. The Renaissance of the 15th century is more about balance than a storm of passions. It is precisely this calmness that we see in Fra Angelico.
The artist of the next generation, Andrei Mantegna, still tried to work with emotions. However, he was not very convincing. In terms of physiognomy, the facial expressions of his characters are frankly strange.
Mantegna. Christ is the suffering savior. 1488-1500. National Museum Stuten in Kunst, Copenhagen. Wga.hu.
And only Titian managed to portray emotions that Stanislavsky would believe.
Titian. Penitent Mary Magdalene. 1560s. Hermitage, St. Petersburg. hermitagemuseum.org.
However, Titian has one BUT. The despair of a saint... is idealized. Still, Saint Magdalene is beautiful even in her repentance. You wouldn't call Eva Masaccio beautiful. At least her emotions don't color her.
15th century expressionism
We will see the quintessence of despair and fear much later. At the end of the 19th century. By Edvard Munch.
Right: Edvard Munch. Scream (fragment). 1887. Oslo National Museum. Wikimedia Commons.
In fact, Munch, albeit 5 centuries later, came to the same thing. He depicted Fear itself, Despair itself.
And Masaccio invented such a style as expressionism back in the 15th century, long before the same Munch with his “The Scream”.
And now it seems: it would be more logical for art to develop like this, from Fra Angelico to Munch. And in this chain Masaccio is seen closer to the right edge.
But... Masaccio is a brilliant artist who was able to look far into the future. Therefore, he violates logic and stands at the very beginning of this historical chain. Left.
He created an image as if from another era. And his contemporaries were not able to fully understand his innovation. And only you and I can now look at his Eva and say: “How brilliant this is!”
***
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Expulsion from Paradise: the first event in world history
Why exactly the expulsion from Paradise is remembered on the eve of Lent and what lesson we can learn from this event in the lives of the first people - in the material of our regular author Andrei Vlasov.
On the Sunday before the beginning of Lent, the Church remembers the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. This event is the first in the history of mankind on earth. Why is this particular event remembered before the start of Lent and what vector of human development does it set?
One of the commandments that God gave to man in Paradise was the commandment of fasting: “And the Lord God commanded man, saying: Of every tree of the garden thou shalt eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for on the day when you eat of it, you will die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
The most sublime comments on these verses of the book of Genesis indicate that the commandment “Thou shalt not eat” was given for a time, for the testing of man, for his growth in virtue and for preparation for some great sacrament.
“That is why, probably, God forbade man from eating it (the tree of knowledge - approx.), postponing it for a while, so that man first - which was very fair - would know his Cause through grace-filled communion and through such eating would strengthen what was given [to him] by grace, immortality in impassivity and immutability, and then, having become, as it were, a god by virtue of deification, he harmlessly and safely, together with God, contemplated the creations of God and received knowledge of them as God, and not as a man, having by grace the same thing with God, the wise knowledge of beings, thanks to the transformation of the mind and feelings towards deification” (St. Maximus the Confessor).
“The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the recognition of the manifold spectacle, that is, the knowledge of one’s own nature. This knowledge, revealing from itself the greatness of the Creator, is wonderful for the perfect, for those who are established in divine contemplation and are not afraid of falling, for they, as a result of prolonged exercise, have acquired some skill in such contemplation” (St. John of Damascus).
“God also gives the law for the exercise of freedom. The law was the commandment: what plants should a person use and what plants should he not touch. And the last was the tree of knowledge: neither was it planted in the beginning with malicious intent, nor was it forbidden out of envy (let not the atheists open their mouths at this and let them not imitate the serpent!). On the contrary, it was good for those who consume it in good time (because this tree, in my opinion, was contemplation, which only those who have experienced perfection can safely begin), but it was not good for the simple, and also for those who were immoderate in their desire, just as perfect food was not useful for the weak and those requiring milk” (St. Gregory the Theologian).
The first people passed their first post. We passed, but did not pass...
“One tree was the tree of life, and the other tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This knowledge was kept, put aside, perhaps, for those who had perfected themselves by making and maintaining paradise, but for those newly created it was premature and deadly” (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov).
This fast, commanded to man in Paradise, was very easy. “The commandment is easy, for God gave Adam the whole paradise, but forbade him to eat the fruits of only one tree. If one tree provided a person with food, while many others were forbidden to him, then it would serve him as an aid in need, food in hunger. Since instead of one tree, which was enough for him, God gave him many, the crime committed was not due to need, but due to negligence” (St. Ephraim the Syrian).
To some extent, the abstinence from meat during Maslenitsa prescribed by the church charter reminds us of the ease with which the first people passed their first fast. We passed, but did not pass...
After the Fall, man was expelled from Paradise. This exile was absolutely necessary for the man himself. The main idea of the holy fathers in the question: why was expulsion from Paradise necessary, boils down to the fact that, having remained in Paradise and continuing to eat the fruits of the tree of life, a person would live forever, and with him the evil that a person had grown in himself would forever exist , violating God's commandment.
After the Fall, man was expelled from Paradise. This exile was absolutely necessary for the man himself.
“God expelled Adam from paradise so that he would not suffer harm from the tree of life, as he suffered from the tree of knowledge” (St. Ephraim the Syrian).
“And then, so that Adam would not reach out to the tree of life and begin to live forever, God expelled him from paradise. It is rightly said: he expelled, and not “excluded,” so that it would become obvious that he himself, by the weight of his own sins, forced himself out to a place more suitable for him. This is what usually happens to a bad person who finds himself among good people, if he does not want to change for the better: under the weight of his own evil, he is expelled from the assembly of good people...” (Blessed Augustine).
The change in human lifestyle was simply catastrophic. Until recently, he enjoyed heavenly bliss, but now he is forced to endure all sorts of hardships and hardships. Until recently, he lived in a wonderful place: “And the Lord God planted a paradise in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man whom he had created. And the Lord God made out of the ground every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for food...” (Genesis 2:8-9) and now he must live not just on the earth, but on the cursed earth.
“And he said to Adam, Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat from it,” the ground is cursed because of you; you will eat from it in sorrow all the days of your life; She will bring forth thorns and thistles for you; and you will eat the grass of the field; By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:17-19).
Likewise, the church charter after Maslenitsa with all its pleasant moments prescribes from Monday of the first week of Lent to change a lot in our daily life: from food to way of thinking. With this sharp transition from fun to long, penitential church services, from an abundance of dishes to simple lean food without oil, or even to abstinence from all food, the Church shows us an image of the fall of man and what followed.
And this is what followed: “Adam sat straight from heaven, and wept over his nakedness: alas for me, who was warned by the deception of the evil one and was robbed and glory removed! Alas for me, naked in simplicity, now I am perplexed! But about paradise, whoever will not enjoy your sweetness: whoever will not see the Lord and my God and Creator: for I will go into the land from which I was not taken. O merciful and generous one, I cry to You: have mercy on me, who have fallen” (I cried out the stichera to the Lord).
We do not know and will never know what would have happened to a person if he had found the strength to repent in Paradise, at the first call of God.
This church chant most accurately expresses the consciousness of the first people after expulsion from Paradise, their way of thinking and feelings. Adam and Eve did not immediately settle down better on earth; they indulged in repentance and regret for the sin they had committed. All their thoughts were directed towards Paradise, in which they had lived so recently, in which they had been able to directly communicate with God so recently. Now they have lost all this. It is possible that it was precisely the deprivation of heavenly blessings and pleasures and the realization that they now faced a sorrowful and difficult life that prompted them to repent. As in the Gospel parable of the prodigal son, the thought of returning to his father arises only when all the money has already been spent, there is nothing to eat and only greater poverty lies ahead. Repentance in Paradise was very easy. God called Adam to repentance with his loving and gentle question: “... where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). “Why does the Creator of all things say this? Of course, in order to induce Adam to come to his senses, recognize his sin and repent” (St. Simeon the New Theologian).
We do not know and will never know what would have happened to a person if he had found the strength to repent in Paradise, at the first call of God. Adam rejected this call and in order to come to repentance he needed to taste all the bitterness of exile. But God gave man to experience this sorrow out of love for man.
“Not only was the exile a matter of philanthropy and goodness, but also that (God) settled him opposite paradise, so that he would constantly grieve, reflecting daily on what he had lost and to what state he had reduced himself. But the sight (of paradise), even if it aroused unbearable grief in Adam, at the same time, however, also brought considerable benefit: constant contemplation (of paradise) served as a warning for the mourner for the future, so that he would not again fall into the same (crime).” (St. John Chrysostom).
Like Adam and Eve, so all people on earth have the opportunity, after sorrow, hardship and penitential labors, to return to Paradise and resume lost communication with God.
Adam's repentance on the land of exile is no longer as easy as in Paradise. But it is also not sterile. Like Adam and Eve, so all people on earth have the opportunity, after sorrow, hardship and penitential labors, to return to Paradise and resume lost communication with God. God himself gave this hope, promising Adam that the seed of the woman would erase the head of the serpent: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it will bruise your head, and you will bruise its heel” (Genesis 3:15). “The seed of the woman, whom God commands to be at enmity with the serpent, is our Lord Jesus. For He alone became the seed of a woman from a woman, without the mediation of a man’s seed and without diminishing Her purity” (St. Isidore Pelusiot).
Faith in the coming of the Seed of the Woman, Jesus Christ, was that saving hope that helped a person live, which filled this life with meaning, which justified all his work by the sweat of his brow to obtain food for himself, all the sorrow that henceforth became a constant companion of man. From now on, man began to live on earth, but his thoughts and desires rushed to God, to the lost paradise life.
The Church calls a person to deep penitential labors during Great Lent, but says that these labors are not fruitless, that we have Easter, the Holy Resurrection of Christ, ahead of us. But you can join it only by going through repentance: “... repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17).
The main vector of our entire life should ascend to Heaven, that our treasure should be there.
But a person can forget about Paradise, about God, forget that the earth is a place of exile. A person can turn all his attention to the earth and make all his efforts to settle better on it. The first such person was Cain. He and his descendants began to found cities, invent tools, invent entertainment for themselves, and so on. To build what we call civilization today: “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he built a city; and he named the city after the name of his son: Enoch. Irad was born to Enoch; Irad gave birth to Mechiael; Mechiael gave birth to Methuselah; Methuselah gave birth to Lamech. And Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of one was Ada, and the name of the second was Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal: he was the father of those who lived in tents with their flocks. His brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all those who played the harp and pipe. Zillah also gave birth to Tubalcain, who was a forger of all tools of copper and iron. And Tubalcain’s sister Noema” (Gen. 4:17-22).
We now live mainly in cities, enjoying all the benefits of civilization and culture. We even grow bread not by the sweat of our brow, but by sitting in a combine harvester in an air-conditioned cabin. And the Church does not call us to abandon all this, she only says that our thoughts and aspirations, the main vector of our entire life, should ascend to Heaven, that our treasure should be there. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break through and steal, for where your treasure is, there your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21).
There is probably no more favorable time to remember your treasure in heaven than Lent. And there is no more favorable time to be at least a little like our forefather Adam in his lament for the lost Paradise.
“Behold, now is the time acceptable, behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
