Spring

A muscular youth crowned with flowers strides through a landscape holding a basket of blossoms. Above him, three medallions depict the spring zodiac signs, while a wind deity in the clouds blows life-giving rain onto figures picnicking and dancing below. The print uses the dynamic, exaggerated anatomy characteristic of the Haarlem Mannerist style to express the vitality of the season.

This engraving illustrates the Hermetic and Neoplatonic concept of macrocosm-microcosm correspondence, specifically how celestial movements in the zodiac directly govern the seasonal cycles and biological 're-greening' (viriditas) of the earth. It reflects the natural philosophy of the era which saw the physical world as a mirror of divine astronomical order.