The Labour of Our First Parents

The significance of Wiligelmo's art also lies in having cleared the ground of all vain descriptiveness, achieving full expression with the simplest and most direct means. The weary gesture with which Adam and Eve, hampered by their heavy garments, handle their working tools is discharged along the tools themselves towards the ground, anchoring the two figures to their condemnation. Yet the scene is not exhausted in the representation of toil and defeat: the dignity of the actions and poses illuminates it with spiritual beauty.