Raphael Warns Adam and Eve

Title

Raphael Warns Adam and Eve

Student Commentary:

In Blake’s image from the Thomas set of his work for Milton’s Paradise Lost (2004 facsimile), three figures sit around a table within the beautiful Garden of Eden. On the left side of the image, Adam and Eve sit together listening to the angel Raphael, on the right. Raphael gestures warningly to the Tree of Knowledge in the distance, which already has a snake coiled around it. Adam appears to be interacting and paying more attention to what Raphael is saying, while Eve is looking downward, her mind seemingly elsewhere. Her lack of attention may be an allusion to the sin she later commits.

Links:

Detailed View of Image at the William Blake Archive

About this Book

Source

William Blake@Union Digital Collection