Image Details

Scala/Art Resource, NY

HOLY LEISURE. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden live a carefree life without the need to labor—depicted in this painting by Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (1568–1625). For the Manichaean Elect and the holy wanderers of Syria, a life without work was as holy as one could live, and thus they became the “holy poor,” who relied on the charity of others to meet their basic needs.