San Zeno, Verona
The labours of the months on the west porch
This is a fine cycle - because of its position, high up above the main door, it has been preserved through the ages without heads being knocked off or legs being lost, and the gable above has sheltered it from the worst of the weather. It dates from the early or mid twelfth century. As at Notre-Dame in Paris, there is a reference to the story of the Creation and the Fall on the facade, too; Master Nicolo created the fine reliefs on the lower facade in about 1138.
As so often, the names of the months are inscribed below. We're always being told that sculptures like these were provided to bring the Church's message to the illiterate - but in fact, they so often contain labels or captions that they must surely have been intended just as much for the scholarly, clerical viewer. And after all, it was bishops and abbots who were the patrons of this art, so it was these wealthy and learned ecclesiastics whom the master of the works set out to please.
Above, from left to right, are February - vine dressing; January - sitting by the fire, an instantly recognisable image; and December, carrying firewood.
Here is March, April, May. March is flame-headed, like March at Venice, and blows two horns. That's usually a January symbol (two cups or drinking horns) but it may be that the new year was begun in March at Verona, as in some other cities where the cycle starts in the 'wrong' place. Next is April, holding two wreaths of flowers, and May, the knight on horseback.
Above are September, October, November. September is the vintage, with a worker who is picking vines at the same time as treading them - not realistic but combining neatly both the possible vintage images in a single figure. Next, the swineherd knocks acorns out of the tree for the pigs to eat. November shows the pig-killing, with one pig already hanging by a hind leg ready for butchering, and another being killed.
June, July and August. In June a man climbs up a tree to pick the fruit. July shows harvesting with a sickle. And in August, the barrels are being made ready for the vintage that will happen in September.
Back to the list of images of labours of the months