Hand of God (art)  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Hands of God and Adam (1500s) is a detail of the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo. It is a detail from Adam and Eve cycle

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The Hand of God, or Manus Dei in Latin, also known as Dextera domini/dei, the "right hand of the Lord/God", is a motif in Jewish and Christian art, especially of the Late Antique and Early Medieval periods, when depiction of Jehovah or God the Father as a full human figure was considered unacceptable. The hand, sometimes including a portion of an arm, or ending about the wrist, is used to indicate the intervention in or approval of affairs on Earth by God, and sometimes as a subject in itself. The Hand is seen appearing from above in a fairly restricted number of narrative contexts, often in a blessing gesture, but sometimes performing an action. In later Christian works it tends to be replaced by a fully realized figure of God the Father, whose depiction had become acceptable in Western Christianity, although not in Eastern Orthodox or Jewish art.

See also

• La Main de Dieu, une sculpture d'Auguste Rodin, au Musée Rodin.
• Auguste Rodin Title The Hand of God (1898), main de dieu [1]
• Hand of God – other uses
• Right Hand of God – a placement in the Bible
• Hands of God – ancient Slavic symbol
• God the Father in Western art
• Hand