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  2. Biblical Women

Biblical Women

Men frequently seem to take centre stage in the Bible’s stories: patriarchs and prophets, warriors and kings, priests and apostles. But look more closely and this is a narrative entirely impossible without women, who determine its course, enlarge its horizons, and live out its consequences at every point. They include military commanders, migrants, matriarchs, and queens, and are the close intimates of—and first witnesses—to Jesus. The exhibitions here bring to the fore some of these biblical women.

Mother and Child (Divided) by Damien Hirst
Fragile Goddess by Louise Bourgeois
Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4), from the Ashburnham Pentateuch (Tours Pentateuch; Codex Turonensis) by Unknown artist

Genesis 3:16, 20; 4:1–2 Eve’s Punishment

The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Masaccio
Hereford Mappa Mundi by Richard of Haldingham and Lafford [Richard de Bello]
Adam and Eve (Banished from the Garden) by Damien Hirst

Genesis 3:22–24 Expulsion and Exile

Lot's Wife by Unknown artist
Landscape with the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by Joachim Patinir
View from the town hall tower to the south with the allegory of kindness (sculpture by August Schreitmüller, 1908–10), from the series Dresden after the bombardment of 13–14 February 1945 by Richard Peter Sr

Genesis 19:1–29 Lot’s Wife

Hagar by Karel Gomes
Abraham's Farewell to Ishmael by George Segal
Hagar by Edmonia Lewis

Genesis 21:8–21 Get Out

We Are All Prostitutes, from the Market Street Cinema series by Leon Mostovoy
Peter von Cornelius by Emile Jean Horace Vernet
Mother and Child Juniper Fleming

Genesis 38 Tamar

Moses Rescued from the Waters by Nicolas Poussin
The Finding of Moses by Nicolas Poussin
The Finding of Moses by Nicolas Poussin

Exodus 1:1–2:10 The Finding of Moses

The Angel of the Lord Attacks Moses and Zipporah Circumcises their Son to Allay God’s Wrath by School of Rembrandt van Rijn
Moses’s Journey into Egypt and the Circumcision of His Son Eliezar by Perugino
God Meets Moses on the Way to Egypt by David C. Hancock

Exodus 4:19–29 A Bridegroom of Blood

The Dance of Miriam and preparation for Seder, from the Golden Haggadah by Unknown artist
The Song of Miriam by Luca Giordano
Miriam's Song of Praise by Wilhelm Hensel

Exodus 15:20–21 The Song of Miriam

Jael and Sisera 2 by Marcelle Hanselaar
Speechless by Shirin Neshat
Jael from Speculum humanae salvationis by Unknown, Northwestern Germany

Judges 4 Jael and Sisera

Angel by Rose Finn-Kelcey
The Carriers' Prayer by Nick Crowe and Ian Rawlinson
Temple, Derry/Londonderry, Ireland by David Best

Judges 13 Samson’s Annunciation

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More Exhibitions

General Resurrection from the Bamberg-Eichstätt Psalter by unknown German artist
Sarcophagus of Theodore by Unknown Italian artist
The Resurrection, Cookham by Stanley Spencer

1 Corinthians 15:35–58 Bodily Resurrection

Yellow Crucifixion by Marc Chagall
Christ appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way (Domine, Quo Vadis?) by Annibale Carracci
The Last Judgement by The Last Judgement

1 Peter 4:12–19 Finding Meaning in Suffering

The War in Heaven (pane 7g), part of The Great East Window of York Minster
Saint Michael and the Devil by Unknown Spanish Artist
The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Revelation 12:7–12 War in Heaven

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