Fourth Day of Creation: Creation of the Sun, Moon, and Stars

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.