Ten months of the year

Details

FOLLOWER OF PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER, LATE 16TH/EARLY 17TH CENTURY
Ten months of the year
oil on panel
8 7⁄8 x 12 1⁄8 in. (22.6 x 30.7 cm.), each
a group of 10

Provenance

G. Wilbraham, Northwick, Cheshire; his sale, Christie's, London, 18 July 1930, lot 5, as 'Jan Brueghel', where acquired as a complete set of twelve months for 520 gns. by the following,
with Jacques Goudstikker, Amsterdam (inv. no. 2631).
Sold by A. Miedl to W. Lüps (1906-1942), Düsseldorf via E.J. Ostermann (1884-1975), May 1940.
Hermann Göring, Berlin, 24 December 1942, to whom gifted by the widow of W. Lüps via Dr Erich Gritzbach (inv. no. RM 1341).
Recovered by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, and transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, 29 July 1945 (nos. 6002-5, 6008-13), when missing the months of January and February.
Transferred to Amsterdam on 5 November and 2 December 1946.
Transferred to the Stichting Nederlands Kunstbezit (inv. nos. 1850-1855 and 1884-1889), 1948, on long-term loan to the Noordbrabants Museum, 's-Hertogenbosch, 1953-2006.
Restituted to the heir of Jacques Goudstikker in 2006, and by whom sold,
[Property from the Collection of Jacques Goudstikker]; Christie's, London, 5 July 2007, lot 2, as 'Flemish School, early 17th Century'.
with Galerie Florence de Voldère, Paris, as 'Lodewyck Rem', where acquired by the present owner.

Literature

E. van Stratten, Koud tot op het bot. De verbeelding van de winter in de zestiende en zeventiende eeuw in de Nederland, 's-Gravenhage, 1977, pp. 14-19, figs. 14-24, as 'Probably Southern Netherlandish, 16th century'.
Rijksdienst Beeldende Kunst, Den Haag, Old Master Paintings. An illustrated Summary Catalogue, The Hague and Zwolle, 1992, p. 58, nos. 340-349.
N.H. Yeide, Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: The Herman Goering Collection, Dallas, 2009, pp. 189-190, 401-403, nos. A1354-A1365, illustrated.
J.-M. Dreyfus, Le Catalogue Goering, Paris, 2015, p. 570, illustrated.

Exhibited

Breukelen, Kasteel Nijenrode, 1936, no. 153.
's-Hertogenbosch, Noordbrabants Museum, 1953-2006, on loan.
's-Hertogenbosch, Noordbrabants Museum and Haarlem, Frans Hals Museum, Aardse paradijzen, 16 May-24 November 1996, nos. 109 (March) and 113 (May).
Aranjuez, Palacio del Real Sitio de Aranjuez, Filipe II, El rey íntimio, Jardin y Naturalez en el siglo XVI, 23 September-23 November 1998, nos. 216 (March) and 217 (May).
Ghent, Museum voor Industruele Archeologie en Textiel, Tuinen van Eden, van keizer Karel tot heden, 20 April-25 June 2000, nos. 40 (March) and 43 (May).
's-Hertogenbosch, Noordbrandts Museum and Leuven, Stedelijk Museum Vander Kelen-Mertens, De vier jaargetijden in de kunst van de Nederlanden 1500-1750, 21 December 2002-3 August 2003, nos. 19-28.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

The artistic representation of the months of the year derives from the early Middle Ages when it was customary to decorate calenders in illustrated manuscripts with the signs of the Zodiac and the Labors of the Months, to indicate Man's toil on earth and the passing of terrestrial time. These became a commonplace feature of Romanesque and Gothic church decoration, often forming part of the iconographic program on the portal sculpture of their west façades, as well as appearing on capitals. In the later Middle Ages the decoration of Books of Hours afforded artists the space and freedom to develop the theme of the Months, placing a variety of figures performing everyday activities in evocative landscapes.

Perhaps the most famous treatment of this theme is the celebrated series of The Seasons painted by Pieter Bruegel the Elder for Nicolaas Jonghelinck in 1565-66. Bruegel executed a total of six works, each representing two months at a time: Hunters in the Snow (January/February), The Gloomy Day (March/April) and The Return of the Herd (November/December) are all in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; The Corn Harvest (September/October) is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Hay Making (July/August) is in the National Gallery, Prague. The location of the sixth painting (May/June) is currently unknown. Bruegel's masterpieces formed the basis for many subsequent versions of the Months, and the present series is clearly inspired by these works. When Jacques Goudstikker purchased them at Christie's, London on 18 July 1930 they were a set of twelve; however, when they were recovered by the Allies in 1945, the panels representing the months of January and February – shown here in black-and-white images – were missing, and they are offered here as a set of ten.

An attribution to Lodewyck Rem (d. 1603), a largely unknown painter active in Antwerp and Kampen, has recently been proposed. Comparison with a work by Rem that is signed and dated 1602 (offered Dorotheum, Vienna, 6 October 1999, lot 244) suggests the paintings are unlikely to be by the same hand.

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