God’s first act of creation was to command light into being: “Let there be light,” he said; “and God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:3–4). This key biblical moment is depicted as two separate yet simultaneous events in this first of 24 Old and New Testament scenes painted in 1383 by the artist known as Master Bertram of Minden, for the high altar of St. Peter’s Church in Hamburg, Germany. At top right, the radiant light emerges from dark clouds. Master Bertram uses the Creator’s posture to signal […]
