Kracht (Fortitudo)

A muscular woman wearing a helmet and draped in voluminous robes stands within a shallow, arched stone niche. She grips a tall, broken column with both hands, symbolizing moral strength and endurance under pressure. Two coats of arms appear in the upper corners, one featuring a lion and the other a snake and skull, representing the attributes of strength and the triumph over mortality.

Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues emphasized in Stoic and Neoplatonic philosophy as essential for the governance of the soul. In the circle of Hendrick Goltzius, these allegories served as moral guideposts for the intellectual elite of the Dutch Republic, linking classical ethics with contemporary Christian-Humanist values.