Labours of the Months

August from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1412-16, by the Limbourg brothers; the court hunt with falcons and behind peasants harvest crops. The Duc's castle at Étampes is at the rear. 22,5 x 13,6 cm

The term Labours of the Months refers to cycles in Medieval and early Renaissance art depicting in twelve scenes the rural activities that commonly took place in the months of the year. They are often seen as humankind's response to God's ordering of the Universe, and linked to the signs of the Zodiac, as both visually represent the passage of time in a yearly cycle.

They are frequently found as part of large sculptural schemes on churches, and in illuminated manuscripts, especially in the calendars of late medieval Books of Hours. The manuscripts are important for the development of landscape painting, containing most of the first painting where this was given prominence. The most famous cycle is that painted in the early 15th century by the Limbourg brothers in Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. In the early 16th century, long after the genre was established, the miniaturist Simon Bening produced cycles which link the Limbourgs with the landscape paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

Origins and Significance

Artistic representations of the months of the year date back to antiquity, when the months were represented through personifications. By the 12th century, the Labours of the Months had fully replaced these portrayals, reflecting religious and cultural changes in European society at the time.

The purpose or meaning behind art depicting the Labours of the Months can vary. However, the monthly labours' original meaning was likely derived from the Christian belief in hard work as penance for (and redemption from) humanity's sins.

Typical cycle

Set of single figure images, German c. 1400

The contents of cycles varied with date, location, and the purpose of the work. The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (illustrated right) was designed for the personal use of John, Duke of Berry (d. 1416), French prince and magnate, and was unusually large, allowing all the typical elements to be used in many months. It combines astrological and calendar information at the top, with a combination of the agricultural life of the peasant, the life of the courtiers, and illustrations of the Duke's many castles in the background of several scenes.

Untypically, this illustration to Pietro de' Crescenzi's farming manual shows all 12 labours, French, late 15th century.

A typical simple scheme was:

However, there could be many other variations than the above, especially in major wine-growing areas, where more wine related scenes were included. In manuscript cycles, hunting scenes may appear at most times of the year. Italian cycles often advance the agricultural scenes a month earlier than the ones from the Low Countries or England. A few cycles show (usually for April or May) scenes including medieval gardens. The impact of the onset of the Little Ice Age has been detected in differences between early and late examples.

Sculpture cycles

The Month of September from the Fontana Maggiore in Perugia (c. 1275), by Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, shows the treading of grapes.

Most sculptured cycles in Europe, especially when compressed into the archivolt of a portal, consist of an astrological symbol beside, above or incorporated in a sculpture or relief illustrating a monthly labour.

A few sculpted examples of the many surviving are:

Stained glass

Rose window of the Creation from the Basilica of Saint Denis. The window, made of stained glass pieces, shows 24 roundels (scenes contained within circles) depicting the Labours of the Months within an outer ring. This ring surrounds a second, smaller ring depicting the 12 signs of the Zodiac within similar roundels. Another ring, smaller than the two previously mentioned, shows 12 arrows pointing inward, which contain images of angels and scenes from the Biblical story of the Creation. At the center of all these rings is a portrait of God, the father, within yet another roundel.
Rose window of Creation from the Basilica of Saint Denis. From outermost circle to the center: 24 images of the Labours of the Months, the 12 Zodiac signs, 12 images of angels and the Creation, and the Holy Father.

The Labours of the Months often occur in those rose windows that are dedicated to the Creation, the circular nature of the window suiting the cyclic theme. In these windows, the months are part of a complex iconographical scheme. Other windows have the Labours of the Months specifically as their subject matter.

Chartres Cathedral, the months of December, January and February

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Nicklies, Charles E. (1995). "Cosmology and the Labors of the Months at Piacenza: The Crypt Mosaic at San Savino". Gesta. 34 (2). The University of Chicago Press: 113–115. doi:10.2307/767283 – via JSTOR.
    1. 1 2 Nicklies, 114.
  2. ↑ Vardi, Liana (1996). "Imagining the Harvest in Early Modern Europe". The American Historical Review. 101 (5). [Oxford University Press, American Historical Association]: 1360–1364. doi:10.2307/2170176. ISSN 0002-8762.
  3. ↑ Calkins, Robert G. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages, mp 246, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983

Sources

  • Time in the Medieval World - Occupations of the Months and Signs of the Zodiac in the Index of Christian Art; Edited by Colum Hourihane - 328 pages | 656 illustrations | 2006 - ISBN 978-0-9768202-2-2 | cloth - ISBN 978-0-9768202-3-9 | paper
  • J. C. Webster, The Labors of the Months in Antique and Mediaeval Art to the End of the Twelfth Century (Princeton, 1938).
  • Bridget Ann Henisch, The Medieval Calendar Year (Pennsylvania State Univ. Press, 1999).