Beneath the arcades of the gallery – or loggia – is an allegory of the months that mark the end of summer and the start of autumn. The cartouche at the top bears the names of the months in Latin, inscribed on sapphire stone: ‘SEPTEMBER’ and ‘OCTOBER’.

Seated on the left (her foot on a pumpkin) is September, the seventh month in the Roman calendar. Cesare Ripa called this the king of months because it was the time of greatest earthly abundance. Accordingly, she is depicted as a smiling winged maiden, with one breast bared. She is dressed in purple, a colour reserved exclusively for monarchs and princes. The bountiful gifts that September brings – the source of the joy that is so typical of this month – are represented by the icon of the cornucopia, or horn of plenty, which she holds in her left hand. It is filled to the brim with the last of the summer fruits: red and white grapes, apricots, peaches, figs, pomegranates and apples. On her head she wears a garland of cereal blossoms. According to Ripa, these should be made of millet or knotgrass, but the cereals shown here look more like ears of corn.

The zodiacal sign associated with this month is Libra, symbolised here by the set of scales in September’s right hand. The Iconologia explains the meaning of this symbol and its relationship with the course of the sun at this time of year: it represents the equinox, when night and day are of equal length, or the balance between light and darkness. Quoting Virgil, he writes:

‘Libra dies, somnique pares ubi fecerit horas’.[1]

On the other side of the composition, October is shown seated on a throne. As Ripa explains, the month derives its name from the fact that it was the eighth month in the Roman calendar. It should be depicted in robes of orange – the colour that the leaves begin to turn at this time of year when, following the equinox, the ‘humours’ or vital fluids begin to drain from the plants. On her head she wears a garland of holm oak leaves and acorns.

In her basket, she October carries seagrass, loquats, mushrooms and chestnuts, whilst in her right hand she holds a scorpion, symbolising the zodiacal sign associated with this month. As Ripa states, it gets its name from the scorpion-like shape of the constellation through which the sun passes at this time of year. The scorpion is also a metaphor for the unwholesomeness of early autumn: unstable weather (with sharp fluctuations between cold and hot) can lead to illnesses posing a serious threat to health, just like the sting of a scorpion.

In the background, Teniers depicts the agricultural work that had been most closely associated with the autumn since the medieval monthly calendars: the grape harvest. In the centre, the grapes are being trodden on a wine press. On the right, the grape-pickers arrive with bundles on their backs, which are then placed in front of the large vat. The must is collected in a number of vats.

The border, featuring putti and garlands, does not appear to draw a distinction between the two months, showing indiscriminately the fruits most typical of the transitional season between late summer and early autumn. The most prevalent are grapes, but there are also pumpkins, melons, pomegranates, corncobs, apricots and peaches, among others. Also visible are cauliflowers, courgettes, aubergines and (in the bottom left-hand corner) typical autumn mushrooms.

The still life scene contains more animals than in other pictures in the series. In a prominent position at the bottom centre of the tapestry there is a colourful parrot, perched in front of exotic fruits such as a pomegranate and some custard apples. Its head is turned to the right, where a monkey sitting on a melon turns towards it playfully. Further to the right, a squirrel is busily gnawing on some fallen acorns. Clearly, this menagerie is a deliberate departure by the cartoonist from the standard canonical iconography and draws on the repertoire of the droleries and grotesques of Flemish tapestry.

[1] Libra has made the hours of daylight and sleep equal.

Antonio Sama

This piece belong to a series of tapestries dedicated to the months of the year, grouped in pairs. The months are represented by female figures who hold the distinctive attributes of each one, following the conventions fixed by the iconology of Cesare Ripa in the sixteenth century. Moreover, each month is accompanied by its corresponding sign of the zodiac and a cortège of putti or winged children who play with the flowers or fruits proper to each season. They are highly representative pieces of the work of the Flemish tapestry makers, who had dominated the European market since the end of the fifteenth century and still preserved their fame and manufacturing vigour during the Baroque. Because of both their rich materials and their visual impressiveness, they were greatly favoured for palace decoration, and more highly appreciated even than painting. Moreover, their compositions were provided by renowned artists, which added still more prestige to the product. At the same time, the cartoons from which they were woven allowed successive issues in order to satisfy the demand of an international clientele keen to enjoy the aura of the work of recognised artists.

Such is the case of this set dedicated to the months, whose first series was commissioned by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria after his arrival in Brussels as governor of the Low Countries. The compositions were designed by Jan van de Hoecke between 1647 and 1649, and he also provided the drawings that were used to make the cartoons. These were executed by a group of artists who distributed the work according to their speciality. Pierre Thijs and Thomas Willeboirts took charge of the figures, while the animals, fundamentally birds and fishes, were entrusted to Adriaen van Utrecht, and the flowers to Jan Brueghel the Younger. The series was woven in about 1650 in the Brussels workshops of Evrard Leyniers III and Gilles van Habbeke. This first cycle was made up of a total of ten tapestries, as the group of six dedicated to the months was completed with another four representing Day, Night, The Four Elements and The Four Seasons.

This princeps series for Archduke Leopold Wilhelm ended up in the Imperial Collections in Vienna after being inherited successively by Archduke Charles Joseph of Habsburg and Emperor Leopold I. The prestige it acquired is demonstrated by the fact that several further sets were woven, of which the only one preserved in its entirety is the one kept at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. Subsequently, David Teniers III produced some new cartoons, refashioning Van der Hoecke’s initial designs, in which he included scenes inspired by other compositions by his father, David Teniers II. Several editions of these new compositions were made on the looms of the tapestry manufacturer Gerard Peemans to commissions from variious patrons. Significantly, two of them were commissioned by the holders of important Spanish noble titles. The first of these is recorded as having been woven for the Duke of Pastrana, and the second, the one shown here, for the Duke of Villahermosa. This set, belonging to the Banco de España Collection, and the one at Prague Castle remain intact. There are records of other incomplete series of The Months, with varying numbers of tapestries, at Waddesdon Manor (Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire) (four tapestries dated between 1680 and 1700), Holkham Hall (Norfolk) (two pieces), and the set that was kept until 1979 at El Quexigal (Ávila) (three pieces). There is also a fragment of September and October in the Art Institute of Chicago (1938.1309, after 1675).

According to contemporary documentary testimonies, the tapestries for the ninth Duke of Villahermosa, Carlos de Aragón Gurrea y Borja, were being woven in 1679. The agreement reached with Peemans established the production of “six pieces with a height of six anas. The duke pacts a price of 25 and a half florins per ana.” The coatof- arms located on each one under the cartouche with the names of the corresponding months is that of the city of Mons (Bergen in Dutch), the capital of the region of Hainaut (Belgium). During his term as governor of the Low Countries, Villahermosa had managed to raise the French siege of this city in 1678, a feat for which he was awarded the Golden Fleece by Charles II. The Latin motto which accompanies the shield of Mons makes reference to this honour attained through arms by the count during the so-called Franco- Dutch War. Its translation, according to García Calvo, is: “The victory in Hainaut conceded the glory of the fruit and the colours of the blood.” This is the principal motif that shows the tapestry in the collection to be identifiable as the one commissioned by Villahermosa, who would have sought to decorate a room in his family palace with a series that commemorated the event which won him the highest distinction of the Hispanic monarchy. After passing through various owners, they ended up on the antiques market. Having been offered in 1933 to the Duke of Alba, they were finally acquired through the mediation of Livinio Stuyck, also the director of the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid, for the central headquarters of the Banco de España. The bank’s General Assembly Room was later refurbished to enable their correct display, and this arrangement is maintained today.

Since this is a set dedicated to the different phases of the year, the allegories used the vegetable repertoire associated with the changing seasons. To the winged personifications of Van de Hoecke’s original design, Teniers added complementary popular scenes taken from his family’s iconographic repertoire. The pagan fable is thus intermingled with idyllic visions of the activities proper to each month. In the tapestry of May and June, he therefore added a villagers’ dance, signifying the joy provoked by the abundance and benign climate of spring. In the meantime, September and October shows the wine harvest. The display of flowers and fruits, among which the infantile putti fly and play in animated postures, dynamically offsets the more solemn figures of the deities of the months.

Ángel Aterido