Creation of the World, Plate I
ARTIST: Jan Harmensz Muller (Dutch, 1571 – 1628), after Hendrick Goltzius (Dutch, 1558 – 1617)
DATE: 1589
TECHNIQUE: Engraving
DIMENSIONS: Platemark: 26.3 cm, Paper Size: 26.1 x 28.2 cm
STATE: II/II
WATERMARK: Partial fleur-de-lis at center bottom
INSCRIPTION: Inscribed in plate, lower left: “H. Goltzius innate. Et excused. Iohan Muller sculptor.” Inscribed in plate lower center, within cartouche: “Principio Omnipotens immensi conditor orbis/Esse polum iussit terreqz immobile pondus./Hinc lucem tenebris remouet, noctemqz diemqz/Nuncupat; et longis spacys max segregat vndas,/Æquora secernit terris; vos Lunaqz, solqz/Prefectos dedit; hinc animalia cuncta creauit./Post hec natus homo est celesti afflatus ab; aura,/Dining consors mentis, dominusqz priorium./F. Estius. A°.1589.”
TRANSLATION: “In the beginning, the Almighty creator of the immeasurable world called heaven and the immovable weight of the earth into being. He then divided light from darkness, and named day and night; and in the void he presently separated the waters, divided the sea from the land; he places you, moon and sun, in the head. He then created all living things. Whereupon man was born, fanned by the breath of heaven, partner in the divine spirit, and ruler of all higher beings.”
CATALOGUE REFERENCE: Bartsch 35, New Hollstein Dutch 35 II/II
CREDIT LINE: Gift of Barbara P. Taft & Hugh M. Taft ‘44
PROVENANCE: Purchased from Kennedy Galleries in 1979
OBJECT NUMBER: 1996.060
Unique in its circular shape and conception, Jan Harmensz Muller’s Creation of the World, Plate I symbolically illustrates Genesis 1:1-2, the opening story of the Bible. Muller creatively reimagines the scene, personifying the elements used to create the world as towering, muscular figures. Heaving on ropes attached to glowing stars, the two figures hoist the earth out from a void of cloudy darkness. Above them floats an apparition of God, who directs their actions with a commanding gesture.
Muller collaborated with Hendrick Goltzius, the leading Dutch engraver of his time, to design and publish his biblical print series. Adopting Goltzius’s method of controlling the engraver’s tool, known as the burin, Muller carves precise concentric circles into the plate. By increasing or decreasing the space between lines, the depth of the cut, and the angle of the burin, Muller plays with lightness and darkness, fundamental elements of the creation story. The artist manifests the central themes of Genesis through his artistic techniques, creating order out of the chaos of intersecting lines.
Even the shape of the plate itself supports the creation story it depicts by highlighting the physical structure of the cosmos. Each plate in Muller’s seven-plate series corresponds to a single day of creation, paralleling the structure and descriptions of the Latin poem engraved in the cartouche below. The language chosen for the poem suggests that this print was intended for an educated audience, since Latin was the international language of the Catholic Church and the basis of education throughout Europe.
Middlebury’s impression is identifiable as the second state out of two, since Muller left the cartouche blank in the first state, and only added the poem later. The first state also has a rectangular platemark while the second state was shaved down to produce a circular mark.
Written by Jennifer Crandall, edited by Simone Edgar Holmes
Bibliography
ArtsMia (Minneapolis Institute of Art). “Title Page, from ‘Creation of the World.’” Accessed June 19, 2020. https://collections.artsmia.org/art/116541/title-page-from-creation-of-the-world-after-hendrick-goltzius.
Griffiths, Antony. The Print before Photography: An Introduction to European Printmaking, 1550-1820. London: The British Museum, 2018.
Hollstein, F.W.H. The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700. Roosendaal: Koninklijke Van Poll, 1993.
Melion, Walter. “Hendrick Goltzius’s Project of Reproductive Engraving.” Art History, Vol. 13., No 4 (December 1990): 458-487.
“Title: Creation of the World.” Metropolitan Museum of Art. Accessed June 24, 2020. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/373999.
