The Months: September

Engraving, part of a set of 9 (from a total of 12) allegorical prints illustrating the months of the year, the first of several series created by Delaune representing the months. Each print consists of an ornamental frame with strapwork and figurative motifs that symbolize the activities related with the month, the astrological sign associated with the month in its summit, and a scroll with an inscription in Latin on the bottom. Inside the frame is a scene representing the proper occupations of each month based on the medieval iconography of the labors of the months, the main source of inspiration being the "Compost et Kalendrier des Bergers" (first published in 1491 and later reedited in 1541), reworked with the introduction of humanist themes and a critique of the social order. The inscriptions in the frames are poetic descriptions of the different states of nature and somewhat establish a kind of parallel with the progression of the allegories in the images, but they do not seem to reflect the allegorical sense of illustrations, many of which illustrate the misfortune of the poor and the banality of the rich. Additional inscriptions, hand-written with pen, are on the bottom of each print, below the illustrated plate.




This print represents the month of September, with the symbol of Libra, attribute of September or October, inside a strapwork cartouche on the summit of the frame, flanked to the sides by a man and a woman, reclining on the strapwork that makes up the body of the frame, with bundles of fruits at their feet, and separated by C-scrolls from pairs of oxes that fill the corners of the frame. The side panels are decorated with trophies made up of bags of grain, wheels, scythes, and harrows. The cartouche encolsing the inscription on the bottom panel of the frame is flanked to the sides by two men, their heads turned up to the center of the frame, their heads flanked by undulating fines with small, stylized leaves and bundles of grapes. The main scene inside the frame consists of a man planting seeds, a harrow laying on the ground in front of him; in the second plane, another man leads two harnessed cows. The background consists of open fields with trees, a forest, on the upper-right part of the frame, and a village, in the distance, on the upper-left corner.




The inscription on the frame does not correspond to the picture or the decorative motifs in the print, but the inscription added in pen below the print is more closely related with the image. The theme of this scene, the planting of grains, is also a traditional representation of the labors of October, according to the Medieval tradition and the "Compost et Kalendrier des Bergers." Although absent from the collection at The Met, the representation of October in this series seems to correspond to the inscription in this print, and the picture in this print corresponds to the inscription for October; it is possible that either Delaune or the engraver of the text inverted the images for September and October in the process of creation of the print.




The inscription in pen below the picture (as well as the one in the print for October in this series), suggests that this might be a representation of charity, a meaning that is reinforced by the doves eating grain from the freshly planted field. The bag with grain on the lower left corner is also an attribute of charity, as are the symbols of work, present both in the scene inside the frame and in the trophies on its panels. The flock of sheep near the center of the print and the vines on the lower corners of the frame are also attributes of this virtue.