A drawing of the entrance to the Temple of Janus, with its doors open as in time of war. In a niche above the lintel is the traditional two-headed image of Janus. A curtain, which will carry the title of the book, hangs in front of the doorway. The doors are being flung open- on the left, by a woman with snakes in her hair (Discord), and on the rgiht by a blindfolded man carrying a torch (Blind Fury). In the foreground the seven-headed Hydra, the symbol of Heresy and Iconoclasm, has escaped from the Temple and is surrounded by various symbols of Religion and the Arts.

This is a preparatory study for the engraved frontispiece by Lucas Vorsterman to Volume III of Frans van den Haer's history of the Southern Netherlands, published in Antwerp in 1623 by Balthasar Moretus at the Plantin Press. This part describes the political and religious troubles during the reigns of Philip II and Archdukes Albert and Isabella up to the truce of 1609.