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Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileA muscular male personification sits in the foreground, his back to the viewer as he overlooks a sea teeming with whales, sea monsters, and crustaceans. In the sky above, birds including an eagle, a swan, and a peacock take flight from rugged cliffs. The circular composition emphasizes the abundance and diversity of new life filling the elements of water and air.
This work reflects the late Renaissance interest in the divine order of the 'Great Chain of Being' and the categorization of the natural world. It illustrates the Neoplatonic concept of the material world as a complex, vitalistic unfolding of divine intellect, common in the natural philosophy of the 16th century.
Dies V HG. excud.
Translation
Day 5 HG. excud.
Genesis
Direct illustration of the Fifth Day of the biblical creation narrative (Genesis 1:20-23).
Poimandres (Corpus Hermeticum)
Reflects the Hermetic cosmogony where the elements are commanded to bring forth living creatures in a specific order.
Object
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Engraving
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
3473 × 3513 px
1b48e8049a0beca3d7ccca9193ef0fb69d72adc4
July 11, 2017
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.