17. Eve admires her first-born SonCodex Vindob. 2980, Folio 49v, 144 x 107 mm. Placed before l. 1791 and illustrates ll. 1793-1805.
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Eve immediately gave birth to a child. When she became aware of it and beheld it, she exclaimed in great wonder: "Ah help me, lord, help! How did it come about that in some mysterious way I have been carrying under my heart and with much pain a human being like myself? It is a great marvel, I do declare, and above all that I have ever seen." Adam agreed and thought it was a marvellous thing." (1793-1805, Translation by Halford, 1984, p. 266)Analysis
"Eve is lying on the ground surrounded by four angels. Two of them support her so that she can look at Cain, whom a third holds out to her. The infant is drawn with an unusual amount of yellow hair. . . .Meyer's Class III version of the Vita Adae et Evae has in addition that Eve ignorans et admirans asks Adam to kill the child lest it harm them. This is not present in our text, but both she and Adam are filled with wonder by the event. The sculptures at Thann [see Reygers, 1937, below] which depict the Penance after the Expulsion also show Eve, accompanied by two angels, nursing Cain. (Halford, 1980, pp. 24-25)Bibliography
Halford, M-B. Illustration and Text in Lutwin's Eva und Adam: Codex Vindob. 2980, Goppinger Arbeiten zur Germanistik, 303; Stuttgart: Kummerle Verlag, 1980.Halford, M-b. Lutwin's Eva und Adam, Goppingen Arbeiten zur Germanistik, Goppingen: Kummerle Verlag, 1984.
Reygers, L. Adam und Eva, Reallexikon zur deutschen Kunstgeschichte, O. Schmitt, ed., I, cols. 126-156, pl. 13, Stuttgart: 1937.