Where to see the labours of the months
Carvings, stained glass and more
- Notre Dame, Paris. West facade, north (left) door; full sequence of the months. There are also figures of the months in the western rose window, though this is obscured by the organ.
- Saint-Denis, Paris - the labours of the months are shown on the jambs of the south portal of the main facade, and date fom the twelfth century.
- San Marco, Venice. West main door. Also includes the trades of Venice – barrels, boats – so that the agricultural ‘labours’ are accompanied by the city ‘trades’. Probably the work of, or influenced by, Benedetto Antelami, who cared the scenes in the Parma baptistery.
- San Zeno, Verona. The scenes are shown under the gable over the west door, in groups of three.
- Parma, cathedral baptistery. Ffreestanding sculptures by Benedetto Antelami. May has a billhook, which suggests he may be making a hedge.
- Modena cathedral.
- San Savino, Piacenza: pavement with figures of the labours of the months and the zodiac, in the crypt.
- Vezelay, Burgundy: the labours of the months and zodiac signs are shown on the archivolts of the central door, surrounding the figure of Christ in glory. There is another set at Saint-Lazare, Avallon, not far away from Vezelay.
- Autun: another Burgundian set of labours of the months, placed, as at Vezelay, in the archivolts surrounding the tympanum of the main door.
- Ferrara cathedral: frieze on west front.
- Reims cathedral: very eroded sculptures each side of the central door of the main facade.
- Autun, Burgundy - on the surrounds of the west front tympanum.
- Capitals in the church of Airvault.
- Rampillon, Seine-et-Marne.
- Pisa, baptistery . The main door has the labours of the months on each side.
- Semur-en-Auxois, Collegiale, Porte de Bleds – labours of the months shown in the voussoirs; also has a green man, and two snails.
- Amiens cathedral: on the facade, the labours of the months and zodiac are shown on a frieze. Unusually, the year opens with December, not January.
- Perugia, Fontana Maggiore, an unusual late
representation that seems to owe as much to Classical agricultural texts
as to the medieval traditon.
- Saint-Savin, Poitou. This sequence begins with Aries: the medieval year in some areas was begun in April. The UK tax year still holds to medieval custom!
- Chartres cathedral. West front: on the left door, and also in the spiral columns between the jamb figures on the central door. A stained glass window in the south ambulatory shows the signs of the months together with the zodiac. It’s worth noting that the top of the window shows, not one of the months, but Christ with his hand lifted up in blessing – the whole world of the seasons and work is shown as something happening under God’s guidance.
- Great Malvern Priory, Worcestershire. The misericords here preserve what I'm sure are a number of labours of the months, but they're all jumbled up and some are missing. The local tile industry also created 'labours of the months' tiles in the late middle ages. And there's a full set of labours in the misericords at Ripple, nearby. Misericords at Worcester cathedral also show similar themes.
- Lincoln cathedral cloister has the remnants of a Labours series on roof bosses in the wooden-vaulted cloister.
- Brookland, Kent, has a Norman lead font which shows the Labours of the Months.
- Vendome; the church of La Trinité has a lovely misericord of a man warming himself at a fire, which just has to be February. There's a May hunter blowing his horn a little further along, and a pig-killing scene, as well as a wicked looking grape-treader who's broken off to munch on a bunch of grapes. Other labours are found in the misericords in Boos, Champeaux (St-Martin), and Rouen, where apple picking seems to have replaced grape picking - this is cider country after all.
If you have more information on the Labours
of the Months please let me know via Podtours!