A preparatory drawing for the larger drawing of The Earth in the Circle of the Heavens, now in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, for which the recto served as a study for the figure of Hercules, and the verso as a study for the figure of Time. The composition was never etched although it was probably intended as a frontispiece for the series of the Seasons. The fact that the four etchings never appeared on the market as a series but were individually dedicated to various patrons would explain why it was never published.

Pietro Testa viewed mythology as a way of expressing the truths of the universe. The figure of Hercules appears among the planetary gods, next to the constellation of the Great Bear and symbolizes winter. The figure of Time, in the central feature of the Berlin drawing, seated on the earth and holding up the shining star of Testa's patron, Girolamo Buonvisi, to Minerva, symbol of virtue, suggests that Time and Virtue will make Buonvisi's name immortal