Twee vrouwen en een man spelen een balspel op tafel 1608

Jacob van der Heyden's 1608 engraving, "Twee vrouwen en een man spelen een balspel op tafel," depicts a scene of leisure and amusement. The composition shows a man and two women engaged in a game of table tennis, with a bed and window in the background. The engraving is a small, intimate scene executed in the style of the Dutch Golden Age. The inscription at the bottom, "Ena age, mitte globum; medium sed tange foramen: Ne actus irritus cadat," translates to "Don't aim for the globe, but touch the middle of the hole. So that your action doesn't go in vain." This suggests the engraving may be an allegory for a game of life, with the goal being to find the right approach to achieve success.