Hortus Deliciarum, Die Erschaffung Evas und das Verbot, vom Baum der Erkenntnis des Guten und Bösen zu essen

On the left, a haloed figure representing God creates Eve from the side of a sleeping Adam beneath a stylized Tree of Life containing human faces. On the right, God instructs the standing Adam and Eve near the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This work is a 19th-century engraving based on a 12th-century illuminated manuscript miniature, characterized by clear, rhythmic line work and Latin labels.

The Hortus Deliciarum was a massive medieval encyclopedia compiled by the abbess Herrad of Landsberg, representing a synthesis of theological, philosophical, and natural knowledge of the 12th century. It serves as a primary example of the 'Before Ficino' era of Western thought, where biblical history and the order of the cosmos were seen as an integrated whole.