The Months: May

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, May is represented by a scene closely related with the print of April in this series, but presenting a group of idealized characters instead of the pastoral environment of the previous one. The print presents a walled garden with five men sing and read from the same music book, gathered around a table under an arbor made with vines, dominated by Gemini, the attribute of the month. In the first plane, in front of the men, are three sitting women, one of them making a wreath, and another holding a basket, both of them singing, while the third one plays the lute, holding a music book on her lap. In the background, beyond the walls of the garden, a couple rides one horse, likely leaving for a hunt. This image is closely related to an allegorical representation of music by Delaune, in which he equates music to virtue. Delaune seems to be criticizing hunting, presenting it as frivolous and vain, by positioning the riding couple outside the boundaries of the virtuous garden. This illustration could also be read as a representation of May as an allegory of sacred love, in contrast with the profane love of the previous month.