The Labours of the Months: November

The 12 small pictures in this group show the ‘labours of the months’ – the rural activities that take place each month throughout the year. They were painted on canvas and then each glued to a wooden panel. It is possible that they were made to decorate the recessed panels of a pair of doors. The paintings seem to have been planned in pairs with the figures facing each other and are currently displayed in two frames in groups of six.A young huntsman in a red cap and jacket holds the leashes of his two hounds. A hunting horn is tied from a cord at his waist. He looks at his hawk, which perches on his hand. In other cycles of the labours of the months, hawking and falconry are associated with courtly love and the months of April and May. Here, hunting has been ascribed as a winter activity to November.