Temperance (Temperancia)

Engraving, part of a series of nine oval prints with allegorical representations of the virtues, and with a kind of exergue on the bottom containing an inscription of the virtue represented. The virtues are represented by female figures endowed with their attributes and landscapes in the backgrounds. In most cases, the attributes are composite and recall other virtues, suggesting that the person who possesses one virtue can have them all. Delaune seems to insist, particularly, on the virtues of wisdom, peace and piety as the basis for the development of other virtues. In this print, Temperance is represented by a bare-chested woman, her head turned to the left, holding in her left hand her attribute, a horsebit with reins. On the other hand, she holds an arrow with a serpent (attribute of Prudence) scrolling around it, forming a shape similar to a caduceus, symbol of peace and justice. She reclines against a large urn, upon which stands an hourglass; the urn could be assimilated to a vase or an ewer, while the hourglass is equivalent to a clock, all of them considered attributes of Temperance. With its mix of attributes, this representation of Temperance by Delaune is also, indirectly, a representation of other virtues.