Melancholic (Air), from the cycle of Four temperaments

The cycle of the Four Temperaments depicts the individual human types as described by the Greek physician Hippocrates. The sanguine type, associated with earth, is depicted singing and playing lute. The choleric type, whose element is fire, is a soldier during the rampages of war. The pensive melancholic sits with his head in his hands, a reference to Dürer’s famous print, Melancholia. This human type is associated with air and the planet Saturn; it was believed that the planet holds artists and philosophers under its influence. The compass is an attribute of geometry, another human activity influenced by Saturn. The phlegmatic type is depicted as a fisherman on the seashore because it is associated with water. The representations of personifications changed radically in the Netherlands at the end of the 16th century with the convoluted allegories featuring antique gods giving way to simple scenes from everyday life, which were easy to „read“ for the viewer. The engraving of the phlegmatic type is an example of this trend.