Labours of the Months

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 Limbourg brothers in Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry. In the early 16th century, long after the term was established, the miniaturist Simon Bening produced cycles which link the Limbourgs with the landscape paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

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How's this for a strange idea: a day off from work in honor of work itself? Actually, that is what Labor Day, celebrated in the United States and Canada on the first Monday of every September, is all about. The first American Labor Day was celebrated in New York City on September 5th, 1882, as thousands of workers and their families came to Union Square for a day in the park. It was not a national holiday but had been organized by a union to honor workers and their hard efforts with a rare day of rest, halfway between July 4th and Thanksgiving. There were picnics and a parade, but there were also protests. The workers had gathered, not just to rest and celebrate, but to demand fair wages, the end of child labor, and the right to organize into unions. During the period known as The Industrial Revolution, many jobs were difficult, dirty and dangerous. People worked for twelve hours, six days a week, without fringe benefits, such as vacations, health care and pensions, and if you were young, chances are you were doing manual labor instead of your ABCs and fractions. Children as young as ten worked in some of the most hazardous places, like coal mines or factories filled with boiling vats or dangerous machines. Trying to win better pay, shorter hours and safer conditions workers had begun to form labor unions in America and Canada, but the companies they worked for often fought hard to keep unions out and to supress strikes. At times, this led to violent battles between workers and business owners with the owners often backed up by the police, or even the military. In the following years, the idea of Labor Day caught on in America with official celebrations reaching 30 states. But then came the violent Haymarket Square Riot of 1886, which led to the deaths of several policemen and workers in Chicago and the execution of four union leaders. After that, many labor and political groups around the world had begun to mark Haymarket Square on May 1st, which became known as International Workers' Day. In 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed the law making Labor Day a federal holiday in America, only days after he had sent 12,000 soldiers to end a violent railroad strike that resulted in the death of several people. The original September date was kept, partly to avoid the more radical associations of May 1st. Canada also created its Labor Day in 1894. But, in spite of this new holiday, it would be a long time before the changes that workers wanted became a reality. In 1938, during the Great Depression that left millions without jobs, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a law calling for an eight-hour work day, a five-day work week, and an end to child labor, some of the first federal protections for American workers. As America and Canada celebrate Labor Day, most of the two countries' children enjoy a day off from school. But it is important to remember that there was a time that everyday was a labor day for children in America and Canada, and unfortunately, the same fact remains true for millions of children around the world today.

Typical cycle

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 a great 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 elite courtiers, and illustrations of the Duke's many castles in the background of several scenes.

A typical simple scheme was:^[1]

January - Feasting
February - Sitting by the fire
March - Pruning trees, or digging
April - Planting, enjoying the country or picking flowers
May - Hawking, 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. Italian cycles often advance the agricultural scenes a month earlier than the ones from the Low Countries or England. The impact of the onset of the Little Ice Age has been detected in differences between early and late examples.

Sculpture cycles

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:

Chartres cathedral: west and north portal archivolts
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
Autun Cathedral: Archivolt of main west cathedral doorway
Ferrara Cathedral
Saint Mark's, Venice: main portal
San Zeno di Verona: façade
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

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.

Basilica of Saint Denis : rose window of Creation in the north transept.
Chartres Cathedral : "Labours of the Months" window in south ambulatory

References

Citations

^ 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).

External links

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This page was last edited on 19 February 2024, at 22:22

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