God Creating the Animals

In 16th-century Europe, the natural world was interpreted largely in terms of God's creation. It was also the Age of Exploration, which sparked interest in exotic specimens. Here the earth produces living creatures of every kind (Genesis 1:24), even, apparently, a unicorn. This print was inspired by Raphael's design for a Vatican loggia (1518-19), where it symbolized the far reaches of Leo X's papacy. This more naïvely rendered image seems to show the animals still adjusting to their materialization.