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This late work by Jan van Kessel is related to the series depicting the Four Parts of the World (Museo del Prado, Madrid and Alte Pinakothek, Munich).
Representations of the Four Parts of the World came into vogue in the Netherlands about a century before Kessel's series. The explorations of the 16th century had helped replace the old tripartite division of Europe, Asia and Africa with the concept of the Four Continents, and at the same time had served to underline Europe's superiority. Such allegorical images served both State and Church, and were used by the latter during the Counter Reformation to express its worldwide influence.
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