Vol. 2 No. 2 (2020): The representation of Latin American food: a trans-cultural perspective
Articles

Corn, Pope Leo X, and the New World in Giovanni Della Robbia's Temptation of Adan and Eve

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  • Barnaby Nygren
Barnaby Nygren
Loyola University, Maryland
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/qciila-1486

Published 2022-02-28

Keywords

  • Leo X; Corn; NewWorld; Golden Age; Giovanni Della Robbia.

How to Cite

Nygren, B. (2022). Corn, Pope Leo X, and the New World in Giovanni Della Robbia’s Temptation of Adan and Eve. Quaderni Culturali IILA, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.36253/qciila-1486

Copyright (c) 2020 Barnaby Nygren

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

TheWalters Museum in Baltimore houses a Temptation of Adam and Eve attributed to Giovanni Della Robbia
that is notable in two respects: itwas apparently commissioned to commemorate the entry of Pope Leo X into
Florence in November 1515 and it contains what may be the earliest European representation of corn. This
paper connects this most unexpected inclusion to both the iconography of the work and the fashioning of
Leo X’s papacy. The paper argues that the inclusion of corn in Della Robbia’s depiction of the Fall ofMan must
be understood in terms of period ideas of palingenesis, the New World, and Leo’s standing as a Christus
medicus who will restore the Church and bring about a new Golden Age.

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