Thanksgiving is a time in America where young children at school get tasked with designing turkeys traced from their hands. On Memorial Day we gather in remembrance of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for our freedom — over a BBQ and fireworks, wearing shirts with eagles on them. At Christmastime we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, while others celebrate the reindeer Santa used to bring presents to children. Puerto Ricans celebrate Three Kings Day, placing hay outside for the camels that carried the kings who visited Jesus.
My point is this: many cultures celebrate, revere, and are inspired by animals — whether they realize it or not.
Animals Came Before Us
“Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God said that it was good.” — Genesis 1:20–23 NKJV
Yoram Raanan — Day 5 (Contemporary)
Yoram Raanan’s Day 5 uses the colors of the ocean and sky for a magical scene of fish and birds enveloped in blue. While the fish are mostly at the bottom, as your eye travels upward the figures become more bird-like — the light piercing through the water shifts your mind from seeing fish to seeing birds in flight.
Raanan accomplishes something rare: the scene moves almost like a cyclone of fluorescent sea creatures and buzzing birds. The depths of the ocean are conveyed through dark blue, while light scatters throughout as if the Light Himself spoke this very scene into existence. This contemporary piece is a reminder that God is still inspiring artists today.
The Land-Dwelling Beasts
As we progress further in Genesis:
“Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind’; and it was so. And God saw that it was good.” — Genesis 1:24–25 NKJV
Reading this, I think of my dog Yamper — a creature with its own divine order, much like the birds and other crawling, flying, and swimming creatures. They simply do what they were created to do: multiply according to their kind. All animals do all they can to mate and survive, whether that means creating venom to defend against enemies or generating electricity.
This moment in time has been depicted by many throughout history.
Raphael — The Creation of Animals (1518–1519)
Housed in the Loggia on the second floor of the Palazzi Pontifici in the Vatican, Raphael’s fresco presents an older robed figure looking down at His creation. Beneath His foot is a lamb, and to His right stands a lion — two animals used throughout scripture to depict both Jesus Christ and Lucifer as a roaring lion, and calling to mind Daniel’s moment in the lion’s den.
On His right shoulder, a vulture-like figure stares down at the creation, seemingly supervising — pleased with what has been made before humans arrive. Throughout the background there is lush vegetation populated with rhinoceros, horned beasts, and cattle, and in the distance unicorns trot across the landscape. In the vast sky, birds fly alongside what appears to be a dinosaur-like creature to the right of the God figure.
Raphael painted common beasts any viewer would recognize, yet chose to include mythical creatures — almost to acknowledge beasts that once were but are no longer. God, surrounded by His creation and the commandment to multiply, all contained in one fresco..
South Italian Ivory Plaque — God Creating the Animals (1084)
Carved from ivory in Amalfi, southern Italy, this plaque is part of a set housed in a church in Spain. It retells the fifth day of Genesis in a piece no larger than a coaster. God is haloed by a slim circle — confirmation that this robed male figure, much like Raphael’s, is God Himself.
With His right hand stretched out, the animals appear to be receiving direction. The lamb is visible at the top, pheasants in the middle, and at the bottom near God’s foot sits a lion, identifiable by the mane-like etching around its neck. A griffin-like creature — another mythical beast — appears alongside the recognizable animals, a theme that appears across multiple works depicting this story. The snake rests atop the lion, also gazing upward at God.
That so much narrative was carved onto a surface the size of a coaster, with the intent to tell the story of Genesis, is extraordinary.
Tintoretto — The Creation of Animals (1550–1552)
This painting combines the fifth day verses into one unified scene. A robed man with a cane — surrounded by light rather than a halo, which I find a deliberate and interesting choice — holds his right hand outstretched gently, as if He has just spoken birds into existence at eye level. He gazes at His creation: the birds, the fish in the sea, while beneath Him the land beasts walk rightward and look out toward the water creatures.
Tintoretto separates God from His creation using light and shadow. From the light surrounding God, everything behind and beneath Him falls into darkness — echoing scripture’s recurring use of light and darkness to distinguish the divine from the earthly.
The animals are painted in motion, as if they’ve just received the commandment to multiply and are departing from God’s outstretched hand to act on it. Every creature seems to revere, or fear, or simply understand its purpose — all in one image. And once again, tucked among the land-dwelling beasts on the right: a unicorn.
Bible moralisée — Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 270b (Medieval)
The University of Oxford’s Bodleian digital library houses this breathtaking medieval manuscript online, free for the public. In Bible moralisée, Part I, page 270 presents multiple Genesis scenes encapsulated in circles, decorated primarily in blues, reds, and greens.
In the top right circle, the God-like figure — robed, heavenly halo intact — stretches out His hand over His creation. Birds fill the sky above a subtle landform, while a single large fish occupies all of the turquoise water below. Unlike the birds, where multiple figures crowd the air, one great fish is given dominion over the deep. The landform between them quietly translates the written commandment into image: birds above, fish below, each in their place.
How Artists Depict God Among His Creation
The examples shared here — contemporary, High Renaissance, medieval — all refer back to scripture and the fifth day. One challenge I find consistently striking is how artists choose to depict God.
Most use a figure of an older man: plain in features, not striking or attractive, yet undeniably holy — conveyed through a halo or the light that surrounds Him. God is always presented as a male figure, always the largest presence in the scene, always looking down upon the animals from above.
Raanan stands apart. He does not use a human figure at all. Instead, he uses light itself to represent God and His spoken commands — a choice that feels perhaps the most faithful to how scripture describes Him.
The Divine Design Series continues. New entries explore how artists across centuries have brought scripture to life — from creation to covenant. Subscribe to get each piece delivered to you directly.