Eve and the Serpent at Works, 16.277

At Works, 16.277 [n/a] Ruskin draws attention to the figures of Eve and the Serpent on the pulpit of the church of S. Ambrogio, Milan. Selvatico saw incompetence in the ‘solchi’ /‘furrows’ of the Lombard work at Cividale. For Ruskin they give ‘the elements of life in their first form’:

the workman’s whole aim is straight at the facts. A common workman might have looked at nature for his serpent, but he would have thought only of its scales. But this fellow does not want scales, not coils; he can do without them; he wants the serpent’s heart - malice and insinuation; - and he has actually got them to some extent. So also a common workman, even at this barbarous stage of art, might have carved Eve‘s arms and body a good deal better; but this man does not care about arms and body, if he can only get at Eve’s mind - show that she is pleased at being flattered, and yet in a state of uncomfortable hesitation...

A modern photograph shows an interesting difference in the orientation of the head of the serpent and the disposition of Eve’s arms and hands from the version made by Ruskin:

[Version 0.05: May 2008]