This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.
Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileVierde scheppingsdag schepping van zon, maan en sterren Schepping van de wereld (serietitel)
after Hendrick Goltzius
Apollo, a muscular youth with a bow and quiver, raises his arm to place stars in the heavens while standing amidst radiant clouds. Beside him, Diana is identified by a crescent moon on her brow, holding a large crescent-shaped frame as an attendant behind her unfolds a dark, star-studded mantle representing the night. The composition uses dynamic, swirling lines to show the transformation of the primeval void into a structured cosmos.
This work reflects the late Renaissance 'Prisca Theologia'—the attempt to harmonize Biblical narrative with classical mythology and Neoplatonic thought. By using Apollo and Diana to represent the Genesis creation, Goltzius emphasizes the planetary archetypes as divine instruments in the ordering of the cosmos, a central theme in Western natural philosophy and Hermeticism.
Plato's Timaeus
The depiction of the Sun and Moon as the primary markers of time and order mirrors the Demiurge's creation of the 'instruments of time' in Platonic cosmology.
Hermes Trismegistus (Poimandres)
Corresponds to the narrative of the Mind-Light ordering the elements and creating the Seven Governors to surround the sensible world.
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Engraving
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · CC0
http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.344654
Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedication
4540 × 4548 px
57652e9fadf9ed368ddebde8db29edb3c0dd8a5b
December 8, 2019
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.