The Fifth Day (Dies V): The Creation of the Kingdom of Animals, from The Creation of the World, a series of seven plates

Hendrick Goltzius|Jan Muller|Hendrick Goltzius

1589 · Engraving; New Holl.'s second state of two · Drawings and Prints

In 1589 Jan Muller, son of the Amsterdam book printer, engraver, and publisher, was a member of or working in Hendrick Goltzius’s workshop in Haarlem. During that time, he engraved a series of prints depicting the creation of the world after designs by Goltzius, the premier draftsman and printmaker in the northern Netherlands. Although some preliminary sketches for the series still exist, the finished designs are now lost. The series itself is extraordinary. Rather than following the centuries old traditional representations of the seven days of creation, based on the Book of Genesis, Goltzius looked instead to classical mythology for his imagery. It is often suggested that he was inspired by Ovid, the first century Latin poet, who describes the creation at the beginning of The Metamorphoses, his long poem about the gods and humankind. In the foreground is a sea goddess, lounging in the waves, buoyed up by various sea creatures. The print is crowded with animals, filling nearly the whole circular space. As in the Bible, they are designated as creatures of the air, earth and water, though here mingling closely together.

Artist

Hendrick Goltzius|Jan Muller|Hendrick Goltzius

Date

1589

Medium

Engraving; New Holl.'s second state of two

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953