God schept de vogels en de vissen 1565 - 1630

Antonio Tempesta made this small engraving of ‘God Creating the Birds and the Fishes’ at the turn of the 17th century in the Netherlands. Tempesta was working at a time when the institutions of the church held significant power over what art was commissioned and made, and this image is typical of its time in the way it visualizes the book of Genesis. God appears as an authoritative, classically-inspired figure, set against an orderly landscape teeming with life. But note the way the artist has included an extensive range of animal species, both real and imagined. Consider the significance of bestiaries and natural histories for the period, and the rise of scientific observation, as a cultural shift that empowered artists to embrace a detailed representation of the natural world. To fully appreciate this work, we need to research not just the religious context, but also the contemporary understandings of natural history that shaped both the artist's imagination and the expectations of his audience.