Spring

The engraving shows a countryside scene with large, gnarled trees in the foreground and a cluster of farm buildings in the center. Smoke rises from a chimney into a cloudy sky, while small figures and animals populate the fields and pathways. In the lower right corner, a pair of swans swims in a stream, symbolizing the arrival of the season of renewal.

As a work by a student of Hendrick Goltzius, this print represents the 'Book of Nature' tradition, where the cyclical seasons were viewed as a macrocosmic reflection of divine order. This allegorical series illustrates the intersection of Dutch landscape realism and the philosophical contemplation of the elements and temporal cycles common in natural philosophy.