The Months: December

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. This representation is dominated by Capricorn, the astrological attribute of December. In the first plane, in front of the buildings of a farm, a kneeling man is butchering a pig, with the aid of a woman, who collects the blood in a bowl, on the right. Behind them, on the left, another man works a fire, under which are two other pigs. This representation seems to be influenced by the "Compost et Kalendrier des Bergers," in which the representation of November presents a butcher scene with a man being helped by a woman.