Personificatie van de Matigheid Temperantia. NL-HlmNHA 1477 53010747

A woman in simple attire focuses on pouring liquid from two small cruets into a basin on a table. In the foreground, a pair of dividers and a spoon represent the tools of measurement and moderation. The rustic background and her focused expression emphasize the rejection of luxury in favor of a balanced life.

Temperance is a cardinal virtue representing the 'golden mean' and the rational regulation of the senses. During the 16th-century Neo-Stoic revival in the Netherlands, tools of measurement like dividers became common symbols for the moral calibration of the soul.