Medieval term for work done in specific months of the year, often used in art
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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 linked to the signs of the Zodiac, and are seen as humankind's response to God's ordering of the Universe.
The Labours of the Months 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.
Typical cycle
Untypically, this illustration to Pietro de' Crescenzi's farming manual shows all 12 labours, French, late 15th century.
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.
April - Planting, enjoying the country or picking flowers
May - Hawking, boating, courtly love
June - Hay harvest
July - Wheat harvest
August - Wheat threshing
September - Grape harvest
October - Ploughing or sowing
November - Gathering acorns for pigs
December - Killing pigs, baking
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.
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:
Notre Dame, Paris: northern doorjambs of the west façade (Portal of the Virgin), and a stained glass Zodiacs, labours, vices and virtues cycle filling the west rose window
Vezelay Abbey: Archivolt of main west basilica doorway
Lucca Cathedral: large bas-relief panels with little Zodial signs, to the right and left of the main facade door
Fontana Maggiore, Perugia: relief panels showing monthly labours are amongst those surrounding the lower basin of the great fountain in front of the Duomo
Otranto Cathedral: Zodiac signs and labours form part of the mosaic scenes which cover the entire floor
Canterbury Cathedral: Zodiac signs and monthly labours are amongst the subjects illustrated in large inlaid marble floor medallions on the edge of the Trinity Chapel close to where the shrine of Saint Thomas (Becket) was located
St Augustine's Church, Brookland, Kent: large cylindrical lead font with reliefs of both Zodiac signs and monthly labours—a rare example in the UK both of such a font and of the combination of zodiac signs and monthly labours
Carlisle Cathedral: the foliate capitals of the twelve piers of the choir each contain a figure representing one of the labours of the months
Stained glass
Chartres Cathedral, the months of December, January and February
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.
^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 - ISBN978-0-9768202-2-2 | cloth - ISBN978-0-9768202-3-9 | 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).
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