The Third Day ( Dies III): The Separation of Land and Sea, from "The Creation of the World"

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.


A genius (a mythological figure similar in appearance to an angel), who also appeared in the engraving of Day One, uses two staffs to separate Land and Sea. In this case an older man whose head is crowned with miniature trees and vegetation represents Land and a young woman with seashells in her hair and holding a large conch shell represents Sea. Their general appearance confirms to traditional depictions of minor Greek or Roman gods.