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Month of October, or Autumn

Maker

After
(artist)
1554-1626

Formerly attributed to
(artist)
1540-1620

Title

Month of October, or Autumn

Date of Production

1700 - 1799

Medium

graphite, pen and brown ink on laid paper, with brown ink framing lines

Dimensions

Height: 21.1 cm
Width: 29.2 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4152

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords




Scorpio symbols
coopers
harvest festivals






Related Works

Month of February, or the Season Aquarius-Pisces

Label Text

The firm outlines of this pen drawing suggest that it is a tracing, probably after one of a series (as yet unidentified) of the four seasons by Paul Bril. The zodiacal signs of the Scales and Crab and the harvesting figures were used traditionally to refer to the autumn months. The work probably does not depict an actual Netherlandish harvesting scene but is drawn from imagination, the tiny figures of peasants standing generically for labour.

Notes

The settings for this busy Italianate landscape is a partially imaginary view of Rome, with the Temple of Vesta here.The zodiac signs of Libra and Scorpio identify this sheet as illustrating the months of September and October, with a harvest scene and wine-making in full swing.

Provenance

van Parijs, Brussels (circa 1800), L.2531, no. 856; his sale, Etienne Le Roy, Brussels, 16 April 1861, lot 856 (as David Vinckboons (Vinckenbooms [sic], David. Les douze signes du zodiaque et les époques correspondantes de l'année, en six dessins; plume.); Jacob Herman Jan Mellaert (1875-1972), London; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d. (with D.1952.RW.4153); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

Special Display - Drawing Peasants, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/09/2010-10/02/2011

Literature

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 124

Inscriptions

Watermark: Recto: right centre: crowned double "C" Lorraine monogram; Countermark: left centre: “4 / C / W”. Size: 60 x 45 mm Laid line frequency: 9 per cm, variable Chain line widths: 21-22 mm apart, variable Close to Briquet 9323 (variant Ostende, 1601, which has countermark formed of single lines, as they are on this sheet). However Briquet mark is larger at 81 x 83 mm.

Inscription: Verso: upper right corner, graphite: “R8/26”; lower left corner, graphite: “n324”; lower left corner, brown ink, first word crossed out in brown ink: “no. 443”; right lower edge, graphite, number erased: “#”.

Collector's mark: Verso: left lower edge, stamped in black ink: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b). Removed (now in file), stamped in black ink: van Parijs (L.2531), inscribed in brown ink “No. 856”.

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