Figure 4.

The Creation of Eve. Lorenzo Maitani, 1310-30. Duomo, Orvieto.

The artist has carved the faces and figures of God and Adam in the likeness of an older and younger brother. Eve slips out of the side of the sleeping Adam with God as ‘midwife’, while the phallic tree, in line with Adam’s genitals, bursts into flower as though he had indeed given birth like a mother.