Vier tijden van de dag

A man in the foreground vigorously saws a wooden plank while a woman sits beside him intently working on needlework. In the distant sky, the sun god Apollo drives his chariot through the clouds, illuminating the scene. The composition highlights the peak of daily industriousness, with additional figures in the background engaged in carpentry and wood planing.

This print allegorizes the temporal cycle of the day as a reflection of cosmic order, a central theme in Renaissance natural philosophy. It illustrates the Hermetic concept of the macrocosm (the celestial movement of the sun) influencing the microcosm (human labor and activity).