Pallas (Minerva)

Minerva is depicted as a powerful, monumental figure wearing a feathered helmet and looking toward the sun chariot of Apollo in the distance. She is accompanied by her sacred owl, while the four corners of the engraving contain 'trophies' representing the spheres over which she presides: musical instruments, mathematical tools, and military armor. Below the central scene, a small landscape shows the goddess visiting the Muses on Mount Helicon.

In the Neoplatonic and Hermetic traditions of the late Renaissance, Minerva represents the 'Divine Mind' or 'Mens'—the intellectual faculty that mediates between the divine and the human. This print exemplifies the Mannerist ideal of 'Ingenium' (innate genius), framing the goddess as the source of all scientific, artistic, and strategic wisdom necessary for the mastery of the natural world.