Air

A man in 16th-century Dutch attire stands against a sky thick with swarms of birds, representing the domain of the air. He holds a hooded falcon on his gloved hand, while several captured birds hang from his belt and a birdcage sits on the ground nearby. The scene emphasizes human interaction with and mastery over the inhabitants of the atmospheric realm.

As part of a series on the Four Elements, this print reflects the Renaissance preoccupation with the Empedoclean and Aristotelian building blocks of the material world. It illustrates the shift in Northern Mannerist art from representing elements through classical deities to using contemporary human activities to explain natural philosophy.