Walters Museum W.425 is a fragmentary prayer book. Fortunately, all the calendar images are extant. In the astrological medallion in the border on the left, Aries, the sign of the ram, is featured. The astrological symbol is, again, particularly worn, and I wonder if that’s because someone holding the prayer book open had a thumb…
Tag: labors of March
March from the Hours of Henry The VIII
This March calendar page from The Hours of Henry VIII is a fairly typical March scene in terms of the labors of March depicted in a book of hours. Workers are pruning the grape vines. You’ll notice that it’s early enough that the vines are still without leaves. While it’s possible to prune vines later, it’s…
March from the Da Costa Hours
The typical labors of March include digging and plowing in preparation for spring planting. In this March calendar image from the Morgan Library’s Da Costa Hours (Morgan Library MS M.399, f.4v) a false frame surrounds a full page illumination by Simon Bening. Outside a castle with a moat and bridge, two workers are digging garden…
March from the Très Riches Heures
In this book of hours calendar image for March from the Trés Riches Heures of Jean Duc du Berry (Musé Condee MS 65 F3v), the foreground shows a man ploughing with an ox. It’s a common motif in terms of the labors of the months in books of hours. The labors of March typically involve…