Personificatie van de Voorzichtigheid Prudentia. NL-HlmNHA 1477 53010745

A figure representing the virtue of Prudence sits with her back to the viewer, gazing into a hand mirror with her youthful female face while an older, bearded face looks behind her toward the past. She holds a coiled serpent in her left hand, a traditional symbol of wisdom and caution. The engraving uses high-contrast linework to emphasize the muscularity of the figure and the detailed landscape in the background.

Prudence was considered the 'auriga virtutum' (charioteer of virtues) in Renaissance thought, essential for the discernment of truth and the study of natural philosophy. The inscription's reference to 'searching for hidden causes' (arcanas causas) links the virtue of prudence directly to the esoteric and scientific pursuit of understanding the secret workings of the universe.