An Explanation

Okay, here's my explanation for the iconography in This drawing.(Though that isn't the finished version. I've made some changes.)

I took the traditional Old Adam/Old Eve as compared to the New Adam/New Eve as my theme. Adam and Eve here then, are types of Jesus and Mary respectively. With their skin color. I made Adam pale, but his face rather ruddy and red in accordance with Cant. 2:4 "My beloved is white and ruddy" Fr.Haydock says of this that " The divine and human nature, or the conception and sufferings of Christ are thus described.

Eve is dark all over, in accordance with Cant. 1:4 " I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon." Both Mary and the Church are compared in this verse. Mary typifies the church, little and of no account on earth, but now glorified in heaven because of her merits and perseverence. Fr.George Leo Haydock says of this:

"Though outwardly afflicted, the Church is inwardly fair"

Another commentary says:

"That is, the church of Christ founded in humility appearing outwardly afflicted, and as it were black and contemptible; but inwardly, that is, in its doctrine and morality, fair and beautiful"

The fruit which Adam eats is blue with red flesh, and red juice from the fruit flows down Adam's arm,as a type of Jesus,from whose riven heart flowed streams of blood which saved the world. Eve's fruit is ed with blue flesh. The streams which flow down from it are a type of Cant. 4:15, which says :"Thou art the fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus" Jesus, who was the living water, of which a man may drink and never thirst (John 4:13-14, John 7:37.) John 7:38 says . Mary believed in in the Lord ( Luke 1:45 ) and thus, she was the fount, out of which living waters flowed for the salvation of all mankind. Of her flowed the streams which give joy the the city of God (The church, Ps.45:5; " The stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful: the most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.")

Adam and Eve, having lost the original holiness in which they were created have dark halos, symbolising the death of the soul that their cooperation with sin has brought. They are not, however, totally black, because the image of God has not been totally destroyed in man. It has been tarnished, or disfigured.

Around the halos are words proper to each person. Around Adam's halo are the words "SICUT IN ADAM OMNES MORIUNTUR" from I Cor. 15:22. (The same theme is taken up in Rom. 5:12-21.) The end of this sentence continues "ita et in Christo omnes vivificabuntur." The Catechism (No. 402) says of Adam's sin:

"All men are implicated in Adam's sin, as St. Paul affirms: "By one man's disobedience many (that is, all men) were made sinners": "sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned."289 The Apostle contrasts the universality of sin and death with the universality of salvation in Christ. "Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men."

Christ by submitting himself to his passion and death for all men reversed the sin of Adam. The Catechism (Nos. 410-411) says:

" After his fall, man was not abandoned by God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil and his restoration from his fall.304 This passage in Genesis is called the Protoevangelium ("first gospel"): the first announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer, of a battle between the serpent and the Woman, and of the final victory of a descendant of hers.

The Christian tradition sees in this passage an announcement of the "New Adam" who, because he "became obedient unto death, even death on a cross", makes amends superabundantly for the disobedience, of Adam. Furthermore many Fathers and Doctors of the Church have seen the woman announced in the Protoevangelium as Mary, the mother of Christ, the "new Eve". Mary benefited first of all and uniquely from Christ's victory over sin: she was preserved from all stain of original sin and by a special grace of God committed no sin of any kind during her whole earthly life."

Taking this same thought, around Eve's Halo are the words "Mutans Evae Nomen." These words, from the Marian hymn "Ave Maris Stella",from Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, refer to the Blessed Virgin, who by her obedience reversed Eve's disobedience. The Catechism (No 489) says of Eve and the Blessed Virgin:

"Throughout the Old Covenant the mission of many holy women prepared for that of Mary. At the very beginning there was Eve; despite her disobedience, she receives the promise of a posterity that will be victorious over the evil one, as well as the promise that she will be the mother of all the living."

S.Ambrose says: "It was through a man and woman that flesh was cast from paradise; it was through a virgin that flesh was linked to God."

S.Irenaeus said: " "The knot of Eve's disobedience was loosened by Mary's obedience. The bonds fastened by the virgin Eve through disbelief were untied by the virgin Mary through faith" (Against Heresies, 3:22)

S.Justin Martyr says: "For Eve,a virgin undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent, and bore disobedience and death.But the Virgin May received faith and joy when the the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the most high would overshadow her, for which reason the holy one being born of her is the son of God. And she replied: 'Be it done to me according to thy word."

On Adam's side of the garden grow roses and calla lilies, as in Cant. 2:1 " I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys." A commentary on this says:

"Christ professes himself the flower of mankind, yea, the Lord of all creatures"

On Eve's side grows roses and another type of lily, for Cant. 2:2 says "As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters" The church sees in this verse a type of Mary,who, being Immaculate and without spot, was pure, like the pure lily among the thorns of sinful humanity.

S. Theodotus of Ancyra says of this: A virgin, innocent, spotless, free of all defect, untouched, unsullied, holy in soul and body, like a lily sprouting among thorns.

S. Hyppolytus says of this: "He was the ark formed of incorruptible wood. For by this is signified that His tabernacle was exempt from putridity and corruption

S.Germanus of Constantinople also says:"Truly elect, and superior to all, not by the altitude of lofty structures, but as excelling all in the greatness and purity of sublime and divine virtues, and having no affinity with sin whatever."

While Eve lost her sinlessness and perfection by sin, Mary persevered even to death.

The tree and it's leaves are that of the olive tree. It was on the Tree of the Cross that Christ our Peace-Offering reconciled us to God, making peace by the blood of his Cross and Passion. ( Col. 1:20)

That's it for now. There are some other details, so check back because I may edit this post.