Days of Creation - Second

Days of Creation — Second, executed in watercolour in 1870 and held at Harvard Art Museums, is the second panel of Burne-Jones's six-part Genesis cycle, representing the second day's creation — the separation of the waters, the formation of the firmament. As in the first panel, an angel holds a sphere containing the newly ordered world, mediating between the cosmic act and the viewer through an intimate devotional image rather than a spectacular panorama. The use of watercolour rather than gouache for this panel may reflect an experimental variation within the series, or the panels' attribution to specific media may rest on later analysis of their material composition. The cycle remains one of the most coherent and resolved projects of Burne-Jones's early maturity, demonstrating his ability to sustain a unified decorative vision across multiple works while modulating each panel's specific mood and imagery.

Watercolour on paper, employing transparent washes layered to achieve the luminosity required for a subject touching on light, water, and divine ordering. The transparent medium allows the white of the paper to contribute a soft internal glow to passages representing sky and the reflective surfaces of newly created waters.