The Labours of the Months: October

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 they are currently displayed in two frames in groups of six.The young man gestures to something in front of him and turns to look over his shoulder as if talking to someone outside the picture. He is sitting on a rock but appears to be about to start ploughing. The simple wood and metal plough he holds would push the soil to either side to make an open shallow furrow. We can see the kind of furrows such a plough would make in the painting representing February, in which streaks of pale paint form parallel lines along the field in the background, ready to be planted with vines or olives supported by wooden stakes.