Pairs of Allegories

In correspondence to the Four Seasons was the series created three years later in 1566, the Four Elements. Through a paired arrangement of the qualities in the objects, warm-cold and damp-dry, the elements correspond to the seasons. Thus, the warm-dry summer corresponds to fire, the cold-damp winter to water, the warm-moist spring to air and the cold-dry autumn to earth. Thereby, through the arrangement of the heads, turned to the left or to the right, corresponding pairs face each other and form a unit. So, if desired, they could be arranged into a pair-grouping in which each head in one series would face its corresponding head in the other, as follows: Spring - Air, Summer - Fire, Autumn - Earth, Winter - Water.

This picture shows the pairs Air (Private collection)- Spring (Madrid) as well as Summer (Vienna) - Fire (Vienna).