The First Day (Dies I), from the series The Creation of the World

A luminous, muscular male figure representing Light emerges on the left, while a shadowed female figure representing Darkness retreats into a dark cloak on the right. Between them, a winged angel wielding a flaming sword descends to divide the two realms. The composition is circular, focusing the dramatic energy on the moment of cosmic differentiation.

This work reflects the Renaissance synthesis of biblical narrative and Neoplatonic philosophy, where creation is viewed as the ordering of chaos through the separation of opposites. The imagery parallels Hermetic accounts of cosmogony, such as the Poimandres, which describes light and darkness as the primary dualistic elements of the manifesting universe.