Phlegmatic

This couple has the calm patience required for the tedious work of fishing and mending nets. They embody the phlegmatic temperament, the personality trait governed by phlegm. The obvious association with water suggests that these people go with the flow. This plate belongs to a series of four engravings designed by Maarten de Vos, the most important painter in late 16th-century Antwerp, and executed by the highly skilled Flemish engraver Pieter d Jode I.