The Months: April

Engraving, part of a series of twelve oval prints with allegorical representations of the months with the seasonal labors inherited from the Middle Ages. The activities illustrated in the series do not seem to have a moral sense, and depict relatively simple scenes with characters dressed in simple garbs, executing their labors in rustic landscapes. In this print, April is represented by an outdoors scene, dominated by Taurus, the attribute of the month. In the first plane, on the left, a shepherd and a shepherdess are sitting, the man caressing the chin of the woman, who is making a wreath of branches, while another woman, standing to their right, cuts flowers from the ground. The tenderness and affection present in the scene correspond to the astrological sign of Taurus, attribute of Venus, the planet of Venus also being the "day house" of the astrological sign. In the second plane, on the right, a shepherd reclines on a tree while playing a bagpipe and, further away, a hunter blows a horn, surrounded by his dogs, and a woman milking a cow. This illustration conforms to traditional representations of the month of April, including that of the "Calendrier et Kompost des Bergers," which includes a man holding a branch and a flower and a woman making a wreath.