April from the Da Costa Hours
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This illustration for the calendar page for April (MS M.399, fol. 5v) from The Morgan Library’s Da Costa Hours is a somewhat atypical scene for April, in terms of what most books of hours depict for the April calendar; the labors of April include, most often, scenes of courtship or, or the verdant spring in the form of flowers or spring planting or pruning. Here is a spring farmyard scene, with a cow being milked, a shepherd with lambs, a flock of sheep (and a single billy goat) exiting a sheepcote with some assistance from a man inside, a ewe nursing a lamb. In the background a woman in the doorway of a farm house is churning milk. To her right, another woman is encouraging a cow to exit the barn, perhaps to be milked. A child stands nearby on a path next to the gate, leading the sheep to pasture. The grass has small white flowers; perhaps clover, though April is probably a bit early for clover blossoms.
In the background, the trees are just leafing out, though the chimney shows that there’s still a fire inside the house. Far off in the distance a figure is just visible on the road.
