[The labors of the months] [graphic].
1561
Items
Linked e-resources
Linked Resource
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library ART Vol. c96
Details
Title
[The labors of the months] [graphic].
Variant title
Robert-Dumesnil title: Douze mois de l'année
Cover title
Quatre saisons
Edition
[State 1 of 2].
Created/published
[Paris] : [Publisher not identified], [between 1561 and 1572?]
Description
12 prints : engraving ; plate marks approximately 175 x 237 mm
Material base
paper
Summary
A set of elaborate images of people engaged in the occupations of the months within illustrated borders. The seasonal activities depicted for the months are: January - feasting; February - chopping and gathering wood and sitting by the fire; March - pruning vines and guarding geese and sheep; April - a stag hunt with dogs; May - courting couples in a garden, weaving garlands, singing, and playing musical instruments; June - sheep shearing; July - harvesting hay and bathing in a river; August - harvesting wheat; September - ploughing and sowing fields; October - making wine and harvesting grapes; November - a swineherd knocking acorns out of trees and pigs grazing; December - roasting pigs in open fire and baking bread.
Note
The border for each print includes a zodiacal sign in cartouche above the central scene, and 2 lines of Latin text in lower cartouche.
Plate for January signed "S." (i.e. Stephanus)
State from Robert-Dumesnil.
"Cum pri Regis."
Delaune's earliest dated prints are from 1561. Based on the presence of the royal privilege, this set was most likely executed before Delaune's departure from France following the massacre on St Bartholomew's Day (1572).
The designs may have inspired a very similar set designed by Gerard van Groeningen, or vice versa. (New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, 1450-1700, Groeningen 203-214)
Title from article in Biographie universelle and Benezit Dictionaire.
Stamped on cover: Etiene De Laune Les Quatre Saisons.
Plate for January signed "S." (i.e. Stephanus)
State from Robert-Dumesnil.
"Cum pri Regis."
Delaune's earliest dated prints are from 1561. Based on the presence of the royal privilege, this set was most likely executed before Delaune's departure from France following the massacre on St Bartholomew's Day (1572).
The designs may have inspired a very similar set designed by Gerard van Groeningen, or vice versa. (New Hollstein Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, 1450-1700, Groeningen 203-214)
Title from article in Biographie universelle and Benezit Dictionaire.
Stamped on cover: Etiene De Laune Les Quatre Saisons.
Exhibited
Washington, D.C., Folger Shakespeare Library, 2019. First Chefs.
Cited/described in
Pollet, C. Les gravures d'Étienne Delaune, nos 68-79
Robert-Dumesnil, A.P.F. Le peintre-graveur française, IX, 73-8, 225-236
Robert-Dumesnil, A.P.F. Le peintre-graveur française, IX, 73-8, 225-236
Linked resources
Digital image(s) of Folger Shakespeare Library ART Vol. c96
Genre/form
Allegorical prints.
Prints.
Prints.
Place of creation/publication
France -- Paris.
Item Details
Call number
ART Vol. c96
Folger-specific note
Prints trimmed to or within plate marks, mounted on larger leaves and bound in 19th-century goatskin binding, beginning with March and ending with February. Stamped in gilt on cover and spine: Étienne De Laune Les Quatre Saisons.
Folger accession
217095