ABSTRACT
The expansion of debates about the nature of cosmic creation inspired by the newly accessible Aristotelian writings transmitted through translations by Arabic philosophers after the twelfth century led to a series of innovations in illustrations of Genesis. The German Hamburg Bible (Copenhagen, MS GKS 4 2°), the French frontispieces of the Bibles moralisées, and the Spanish bibles from Ripoll and Roda show the creative ways in which medieval artists began depicting new ideas about the creation, including representations of prima materia (prime matter), the four elements, and the beginning of time. In these examples the divine acts of creating the cosmos are aligned visually with the artistic process of making manuscripts and the creative act of making a work of art.
