The Expulsion from Paradise
The disobedient Adam and Eve are expelled from Paradise by the Lord. An angel brandishes a sword over the guilty pair, who now ashamedly hold fig leaves to conceal their nudity. The Gate of Paradise through which the couple exits is depicted as a slender Gothic tower. (Genesis 3:22–24)
The Trials of Man and Woman
After their exile from Eden, the Lord multiplies the sorrows of Adam and Eve. She shall suffer the pains of childbirth; he must cultivate the earth for his bread. As Eve sits spinning with a distaff, Adam digs with a spade. Their sons Cain and Abel collect firewood at their feet. (Genesis 3:16–19)
The Sacrifices of Cain and Abel; Cain Murders His Brother
The Lord is pleased with the ram Abel has brought as a sacrifice, but Cain meets with no such favor for the sheaves he presents at the altar. Furiously jealous, Cain later slays Abel with a hatchet. (Genesis 4:3–8)
The Death of Cain
This scene is drawn from an account popular in the middle ages that expanded upon the brief description of Cain's death in the Book of Genesis. The aged and blind Lamech, his aim guided by a boy, shoots Cain with bow and arrow as he is tangled in a bush. Note that in this and the preceding miniatures, the painter has deliberately ignored some of the plants springing from the ground, perhaps to create a contrast between the barren nature of the world and the lush Garden of Eden. (Genesis 4:15, 23–24)
Source: The Morgan Library
