An Allegory of Prudence

It is a portrait of three heads of men superimposed on three heads of animals: on the left, an older man and a wolf; in the center, a middle-aged man and a lion; and on the right, a young man and a dog. Above their heads we can see a motto written in Latin, arranged in three groups of words from left to right: ex praterito praesens / prudenter agit / ne futura actione deturpet, which means: "informed of the past, / the present act cautiously, / lest he should be ashamed of future action".