Italian, Venetian, 'The Labours of the Months: September', about 1580
About the work
Overview
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.
A man sits beneath a tree through which a vine has been trained. A large bunch of red grapes hangs from a leafy stem. He uses both hands to squeeze the juice from another bunch into a wooden vat on the ground at his feet. The grape juice will be turned into wine and possibly stored in the barrel we see being made in an earlier scene.
The repeated pattern of strong reds, blues, white and green in this little picture gives it a charming decorative quality.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- The Labours of the Months: September
- Artist
- Italian, Venetian
- Part of the series
- The Labours of the Months
- Date made
- about 1580
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 13.6 × 10.6 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Layard Bequest, 1916
- Inventory number
- NG3110.3
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Sir Austen Henry Layard wrote to his friend and fellow Trustee of the National Gallery, Sir William Gregory, on 8 December 1888: ‘I have just picked up 12 little pictures by Bonifazio representing the twelve seasons [sic] of the year which are not bad. They appear to have belonged to a “mobile” or cabinet.’ In a later letter he identified the dealer as ‘Marini’. The paintings were bequeathed to the National Gallery by Layard in 1896, with a life interest to his widow. They were received by the Gallery in 1916.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Nicholas Penny, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 2, ‘Venice 1540–1600’, London 2008; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1959Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Venetian School, London 1959
-
1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2008Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, 2, Venice, 1540-1600, London 2008
About this record
If you know more about this work or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
About the series: The Labours of the Months
Italian, Venetian, 'The Labours of the Months: January', about 1580
Overview
These 12 small pictures may have been made to decorate the recessed panels of a pair of doors, and seem to have been planned in pairs with the figures facing each other. They show the ‘labours of the months’ – the rural activities that take place each month throughout the year.
They are now framed in two groups of six, arranged in an order which reflects that in other, similar cycles and seems to make sense in relation to the seasons depicted, although we cannot be certain this is the original order.
January: A warmly dressed old man sits by a stove.
February: Trimming stakes with a hatchet.
March: Pruning the vines.
April: A cooper making a barrel.
May: A young man holds two rods.
June: A labourer holds a sheaf of corn he has cut with his scythe.
July: A labourer threshes grain with a flail.
August: Exhausted from fruit picking, a labourer sleeps beneath a tree.
September: The vines are harvested and the grapes pressed.
October: The field is ploughed.
November: A hunter with his hawk and hounds.
December: Slaughtering a pig.
Works in the series
An old man sits indoors by the fire with his elbow propped on the fireplace or stove, and his forehead leaning on his hand. He pulls his jacket closer round himself and wears a yellow wrap or blanket against the cold. The interior of his room is bare and simple, and not in good repair – the plast...
Not on display
A young man kneels beside a wooden block and cuts stakes with a hatchet. A line of stakes has already been set in the field, which is ploughed into rows ready to be planted, perhaps with vines or olives. The stakes would be used to support the young plants.This is one of 12 small pictures that to...
Not on display
A bearded man wearing a yellow tunic trims vines that have been trained to grow up two trees. The branches of the vine are bare, while the trees have a few brownish leaves. Pruning vines is an activity carried out in Italy in winter when the plant is dormant, and in spring when the new leaves hav...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.In this painting, which we think may represent April, a cooper makes a wooden barrel. He raises his mallet ready to strike the tool in his other...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.It is the most puzzling picture of the series. A young man holds two rods, with one crossing the other at the top. It looks as though he might be...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.A barefoot young man sits holding a sheaf of corn he has cut in one hand and his scythe in the other. The sleeves of his blue jacket are rolled u...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.In this painting, which we think may represent July, a man threshes grain from the corn husks and stalks of straw. He holds the corn on a wooden...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.The labourer in this scene, which may represent August, is so exhausted that he has fallen asleep. He sits beside a tree, his head resting on his...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.A man sits beneath a tree through which a vine has been trained. A large bunch of red grapes hangs from a leafy stem. He uses both hands to squee...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.The young labourer gestures to something in front of him, and turns to look over his shoulder as if talking to someone outside the picture. He is...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.A young huntsman in a red cap and jacket holds the leashes of his two hounds. He looks at his hawk, which perches on his hand. A hunting horn is...
Not on display
This is one of 12 small pictures that together show the ‘labours of the months’ – the activities that take place each month throughout the farming year.In what we believe is the final painting of this series, a man wearing a white apron and holding a knife slaughters a grey pig by slitting its th...
Not on display
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