Winter (Hyems): The Four Seasons

The figure stands against a gust of wind, huddled into a heavy fur-lined cloak and hood to endure the cold. He clutches a small ceramic warming pot or brazier to his chest, a common iconographic attribute of Winter. Above his head, the celestial dimension of the season is marked by three zodiacal symbols corresponding to the winter months.

This engraving illustrates the Renaissance concept of the correspondence between the microcosm (human age and seasons) and the macrocosm (the zodiac). Winter was traditionally associated with old age and the phlegmatic temperament, governed by the cold and dry qualities of the celestial signs depicted.